


Lessons in Romantics

by All_InProcess



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Fluff, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smitten Eggsy, Smitten Harry, University, and who doesn't love smitten!Harry?, because who doesn't love a good college AU?, eggsy tries to live among the posh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:44:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_InProcess/pseuds/All_InProcess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eggsy is just a young professor with only a few years under his belt, trying to make things work at a prestigious, old-blood university. It's never been easy but his students are worth the struggles he faces with other professors.<br/>It certainly doesn't hurt though, when the head of the English Department, the one and only Harry Hart, finds himself quite taken by the newest member of his staff. All too quickly their professional relationship dissolves into letters and poems that sound like they could be in the novels they teach to their students, with a romance to match.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a Tumblr post and I'm just seeing where it goes.

He glanced up at the clock on the wall for a moment before shutting his book. He looked up at all the students in his lecture. For someone who was only a few years out of school himself, it was hard for Eggsy to wrap his head around the fact that he was in charge of teaching literally hundreds of students. A full class of one hundred twenty college kids was sitting in front of him, and that was just _one_ of his classes. They were trusting him with a part of what would predict their future, and there he was in front of the class, with a vest on over a loosely knotted tie and a white button-down with his jeans and Adidas sneakers. He figured it was a wonder they took him seriously. But maybe that’s why it worked.

“Alright,” he smiled, “I’ll let you go a few minutes early taday. ‘Ave the nex’ four chapters done for next class. Enjoy the weekend.”

There was the iconic noise of backpacks being zipped and coats being put on as students started talking to each other and making their way out of the classroom. The university lecture halls hadn’t been updated since they were built, so the students had to walk down the stairs that ran up the center of the seating area, and pass the podium and table by Eggsy, in order to get out of the room. And Eggsy, as someone who was still, and probably would always be, in awe of the fact that these kids actually _wanted_ to listen to him, would sit and wait until every student had left, just in case one of them had a question or comment they didn’t want to make during class, or if they couldn’t make it to his office hours.

He sat on the table, flipping lazily through the chapters they would be discussing the following Monday, when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up and saw a young girl standing there, books hugged tight to her chest. She never really spoke up during discussions, but he remembered reading her papers; she was an incredibly smart young lady.

“Professor Unwin,” she looked somewhat nervously around the room, “Can I ask you something?”

He still wasn’t used to people addressing him as Professor Unwin, or even just Professor, for that matter. He gave a charming smile, “Marissa, please, you don’t have to call me Professor. Jus’ call me Gary, yea?” he set his book on the surface of the table, resting his hands in his lap, “But of course, I’ll always answer your questions as best I can.”

“I know the analysis paper is due next Friday by midnight, and I’ve been trying to get it done but there’s just a lot going on at home right now and I just don’t see myself having the eight pages done, especially if we’re still going to be continuing discussion on Monday. Because I use my class notes in my papers and all and I just-”

He held his hand up to make her pause. He kept a soft expression on his face as he stood up, “Do you ‘ave another class right now?”

She shook her head, “No, I’ve got a free block right now.”

“Care to walk and talk?”

She nodded but didn’t verbally respond. Eggsy calmly packed his books and made his way to the door, holding it open for her. As he shut it behind them, she spoke up, “I completely understand if you can’t allot me any more time. I know that in the syllabus you make it fairly clear that you’re not much for late assignments but I was just hoping, you know…”

The two of them walked down the hallway, subconsciously falling in stride with each other. Eggsy glanced at her for a moment, “Marissa, how ‘bout we make a deal, yea? Trust me, I know all about home life getting out of hand and gettin’ in the way of, well, lit’rally everything else,” he laughed, “So at the end of the day on Wednesday, email me and let me know where you are, how you’re feeling about having the paper done. An’ if things aren’t going your way, I’ll give you till the end of the day Monday to send it to me. That way you’ll have the whole weekend. Sound fair?”

The relief was written clear as day all over her face. She nodded enthusiastically, “Oh that’s wonderful. Thank you, Professor, so much. I, just, thank you. Things have just been so out of hand.”

He nodded as they walked through the courtyard to the English Department Building. “No need ta thank me,” he stopped before they walked into the building, “Is everything alright? Do you wanna talk?” When she didn’t respond, he offered a sympathetic smile, “You don’t haveta, obviously. But my office door is always open, yea?”

Her smile was weak but sincere. She appreciated the apparent concern he had for his students. That was half the reason everyone liked taking his classes. Plus, who doesn’t love a laid-back professor who was that much fun to look at? She shook her head, “I appreciate it, Professor, but I’ll be alright. Things should calm down soon.”

He nodded, not wanting to push the subject, “Well, I’ll see you Monday then, yea? ‘Ave a good weekend. Stay safe.”

“I will. Until Monday, Professor,” she smiled meekly and quickly went off and away.

Eggsy took a deep breath before pulling open the door to the building. He silently made his way up the stairs and down the hall to his office. He loved being a professor because he loved teaching students. His favorite teachers and professors growing up were always part of the English department, and that was most of what inspired him to become an English professor himself; he wanted to leave a positive mark on kids’ lives.

What he didn’t enjoy, though, was the snobbery and politics that were rampant at the university. If the students weren’t so kind and dedicated, and the pay wasn’t as good as it was, he would’ve been gone after his first year there. As it was, though, he loved the students and what he was able to do with his classes, so he stuck it out. He dealt with the condescending looks in the department hallways, and the backhanded compliments at department meetings and open houses. He’d heard much worse, after all, from people who mattered much more than his colleagues who he only saw at length a few times a semester.

He walked into his office and set his bag on his desk. He didn’t keep all that much in his office. He had a few bookshelves, and his desk had a laptop and pictures of his baby sister, but other than that it was a pretty bare space. He hoped to change that as time went on and he built more of a life. Although more and more often he was contemplating having an office on a different campus. He pulled the book for discussion out and tucked his backpack underneath his desk. He began jotting down notes and discussion points for Monday.

There was a knock on his door, and without looking up he invited whoever it was to come in and take a seat. He assumed it was one of his students, but when he looked up he saw that it was another professor. Dr. King taught several high-level courses on Shakespeare and the composition of classic literature. He also happened to be the most consistent with condescending murmurs concerning Eggsy and everything about the young man’s ability to teach.

“Dr. King,” he closed his book, “what c’n I do for you?”

He made no attempt to hide his disgust at Eggsy’s accent, his habit of dropping letters. They’re there for a _reason_. He took a quick breath, “There’s going to be a department conference next Thursday. Not mandatory, however, so if you can’t make it, it won’t be the end of the world."

Eggsy loosened his tie a bit more and pulled it off over his head, undoing the top two buttons of his shirt with a shrug and a smug smile, “Wouldn’t miss it fer the world, bruv. Thanks for the head’s up.”

“Certainly,” he gave a curt nod and excused himself.

Eggsy leaned back in his chair, running his hands back through his hair. It was easy enough to feign confidence and bother his colleagues purposefully, but he wished that he didn’t have to. He pulled his glasses off and tossed them onto his desk. “Fuck me,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Professor Unwin,” there was a knock at the door, and Eggsy looked up to see the head of the English Department standing in his doorway.

“Dr. Hart,” he felt himself struggling for words, suddenly wishing that he hadn’t impulsively removed his tie and made himself look as fed up as he felt, “Is there somethin’ I c’n help you with?”

“I wanted to ask a favor of you, regarding the conference next week.”

He nodded, “What d’you need?”

“Do you think you could be a speaker?”

Confusion flashed across his face, “Me?”

He nodded, “Yes. After reviewing the department evaluations from the end of last semester, it was quite apparent that you’re a favorite among students, and based on their grades you’re clearly an effective professor. I think it’d be good for you, and the department, if you shared a few pearls of youthful wisdom,” his smile was kind, “If you wouldn’t mind.”

With every passing second Eggsy was feeling more and more out of his depth. He was floored that the head of the English Department even noticed him, let alone thought he stood out in any kind of positive way. Eggsy reached and put his glasses back on, “Um, sure? Dr. Hart, I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve got no problem speakin’ but I’m willin’ ta bet none of the other professors are gonna wanna listen ta me.”

He looked genuinely perplexed, “What makes you say that?”

Eggsy cocked an eyebrow, “You tellin’ me they never came to you complainin’ about me?”

“They complain about everything,” he shrugged, “It all sounds the same once you’ve had my job for a while. What have they been saying?”

“Ask Dr. King,” he knew it wasn’t professional to spill names, but it also wasn’t professional for the lot of them to single him out when apparently he was doing better than the rest of them. “They don’t wan’ _my kind_ ‘round here, Dr. Hart. I’m not up ta par with their standards, I s’pose.”

“Dr. King said that?”

He shrugged, “Eh, don’t get on his case. He’s certainly not the only one.”

“I apologize, I had no idea.”

“Not yer fault; people don’t like change. Fresh bloodlines don’t bode well in places like this, yea?”

“That’s no excuse.”

There was nothing for Eggsy to do except shrug. “In answer to yer question, though, I’ll speak I guess. Send me an email just letting me know more of what you want me to talk about so I c’n prepare something. Really rather not go off the cuff when I’m already behind the eight.”

“Of course, of course,” Harry’s mind was trying to process a million things at once, “I really appreciate it, Professor Unwin.”

“Call me Gary, please,” he chuckled, “Still not used ta being called Professor.”

He chuckled, “It’s an acquired taste, I’ll admit,” he sighed, “Well, if you’ll excuse me.”

Eggsy nodded, “’Course. Thanks fer stopping in.”

“I should be thanking you,” he smiled, “Have a good weekend, Gary.”

“You too, Dr. Hart,” he smiled before forcing his attention back to his discussion notes, trying not to dwell on how he’d almost completely forgotten what the head of the department looked like, and sounded like.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One class today was cancelled and my other got out early, which meant ample time for writing. ^_^

Eggsy got to the lecture hall fifteen minutes before class was scheduled to start. He set his bag down and began writing on the blackboard. Every semester students were impressed by the fact that he had neat handwriting. He’d be offended but the more he thought about it the more he realized he didn’t really present himself as an overly “neat and tidy” kind of person.

Students began to filter in, and even though it was the afternoon, it was obvious that some of them woke up just in time to get to class. They came stumbling in with their coffee in one hand and their phone in the other, collapsing down into their seats and pulling out various notebooks and laptops.

When almost all of the seats were filled, Eggsy glanced at the time on his phone. He looked up at his class, “Alright, hope ev’ryone had a good weekend. Some’a you look like you’re still recovering,” he chuckled, “Lucky fer you, we’re just continuing discussion on _Cloud Atlas_ today. No activities or quizzes. So you lot who need to c’n sit back, nurse your hangovers, and try to take notes on what your classmates are saying. Now, before I dive inta _my_ notes, what questions do _you_ all have about the text?”

A bunch of hands flew up, and Eggsy smiled to himself. This was the way it always was when he dissected that particular novel in class. There was so much going on, so many different characters and time periods, that literally everything was open to interpretation. It lead to a lot of confusion but also some really great debates and discussions. As much as he loved talking about what he thought of the novel, the class wasn’t about him.

Each student that he called on he was able to call them by name. It was one of the little things that he prided himself on. When he was still in school, a lot of his larger classes the professors never took the time to learn any names, and it always bothered him on some level. He knew it wasn’t anything personal, but that was part of what bothered him.

He pointed to one of the young men in the back row, “Yes, Tyler, what’s yer question?”

“Alright, so I’ve been trying to take notes on characters and places and everything, but it’s just so goddamn confusing.”

Eggsy smiled, “How so?”

“There’s no consistency with the timeline! Like, we’re supposed to believe that all of these people are somehow connected across time, but there’s no real timeline to follow. We’re in the past then suddenly it kinda seems like the present then it’s _definitely_ the future but then it’s so far in the future it feels like the past and then bam the author just decides that they want to put us back in another spot. Makes my damn head spin honestly.”

“Now why d’you think that is?” he looked at the entire class, “This is an open question, by the way. Why do you all think that the author, rather than jus’ givin’ us each character in sequence based on their time, decided to make us run in circles like this?”

A few students were tossing out their own personal theories, and as they did Eggsy wrote the gist of each on the board. He got so wrapped up in listening to them that he didn’t even notice the head of the department slip into the room and stand silently by the door. Eggsy kept calling on more people, and the more points he wrote down, the more the students began to realize that they were all gesturing around one central point but no one could quite verbalize it.

“Now,” Eggsy twirled the piece of chalk between his fingers, “what’re all,” he drew lines from each bullet and made them all connect at a point slightly to the right, “these tryin’ ta say?”

Students were jotting down the crude diagram in their notebooks and trying to come up with the answer that their professor was looking for. One of the things that they all liked about him was that he would never completely shoot down an idea. Even if it wasn’t the answer he was looking for, he’d pick out the valid points of whatever the student had said. He’d gone enough of his life feeling like a failure, and he certainly didn’t want to inflict that feeling upon his students. He tried to ask questions that wouldn’t be called “trick questions” as soon as the students left the classroom.

A girl in the front row, who had yet to speak even once that semester, finally raised her hand after a long stretch of silence from the rest of the class. Eggsy beamed at her, “Lily, you have a theory?”

Harry stood there, watching in awe at how easily Eggsy interacted with his students. More than that, though, he noticed how practically every student was willing and enthusiastic about participating. Even if they weren’t raising their hands and speaking outright, it was obvious that they were listening intently, and everyone was furiously taking down notes.  
He so easily coaxed it all out of them, too. Harry had had some of Eggsy’s students in past classes of his, and the response was never like what he was witnessing. No matter what the students said, Eggsy was always so encouraging and he prompted other students, especially ones who looked like they really had something to say, to speak up.

As class was drawing to a close, Eggsy sat back on the table and just let the students debate amongst themselves. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do since there were a good number of students there, but they managed. He was looking around the classroom, admiring the fact that everyone seemed to have something to talk about. The novel was a hit or miss, either students found it incredibly interesting or had absolutely no use for it. Luckily it was very rarely the latter. His eye caught something by the door and when he turned to focus on it, he saw Harry standing there, arms folded with a pleased smile on his face. Eggsy smiled before returning back to his lecture, now slightly more nervous since he knew he was being observed.

“Ay, Professor,” one of the boys called out.

Eggsy smiled, “Ah, hold that thought. I want to make a quick announcement, thank you James. If you don’t feel comfortable calling me Gary, I’ll meet you halfway, and just call me Prof. I can learn ta get used ta that. But please, I’m _beggin’_ you, stop with the _Professor_ and _Professor Unwin_ , stuff, yea?” he nodded and turned back to the boy, “Sorry, James. What was your question?”

“Are we gonna watch the movie?”

He sighed, “You lot promise that you’ll act’ally finish readin’ the thing if I say yes? ‘Cos there’s a lot more in the novel and you can be damn sure I’ll know if you skimped out.” When the class had given resounding reassurance that they would actually do their reading assignments still, Eggsy sighed, knowing he was going to cave. He always did. “Aight, fine. We’ll watch the film when we’re done reading. Then you’ll all know what it really means ta say the book was better than the film.”

“It was a decent film,” Harry spoke up from the doorway.

All the students fell silent. They knew that he was the head of the English department, and most of them had, at one point or another, taken one of his many courses in poetry or phonology in written literature. He was a strict but fair professor. Regardless, most students were intimidated by him.

Eggsy smiled cheekily, “Neva said it was a bad film, Dr. Hart. But ‘ave you, by any chance, read its novel counterpart?”

He smiled good naturedly, “I must admit I haven’t.”

“Then I think I gotta tell you, prob’ly fer the first and last time, you don’t know what you’re talking about. The book has a completely diff’rent feel than the movie. Both are good, but the book’s just got so much in it.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime, Professor Unwin,” Harry grinned.

“Ay, my rules fer this lot apply ta you too,” he kept as straight of a face as he could, “None’a that _Professor_ sh-stuff,” he caught himself at the last second. He glanced down at his watch and looked back at his students, “Alright, you all know the drill. Nex’ three chapters by next class, yea? Any questions I’ll hang here till the next prof comes along. See you all Wednesday.”

A few students stopped on their way out to ask quick questions about certain characters or spots in the reading that they had lost themselves at, and Eggsy was more than happy to help and clarify. Harry waited patiently by the door and watched as Eggsy pointed to places in his own tattered copy of the book, recognition slowly appearing on each student’s face.

The last student walked up, a nervous look on their face. Eggsy looked at him with concern, “Tyler, everythin’ alright, bruv?”

“Uh, yea. You think I could talk to you about something, though? It’s not really class related.”

“’Course you can. Is everything alright? Would you rather talk in my office?”

Tyler nodded, “Yea, but I mean, if you gotta meet with Dr. Hart, it can wait.”

Eggsy turned around, “Not ta be rude but will our meeting take long?”

Harry shook his head, “No more than ten minutes.”

Eggsy turned back to the boy in front of him, “Meet me at my office in fifteen, aight? We’ll talk about whatever it is that’s gettin’ you.”

“Thanks, Prof.”

Eggsy lightly clapped the boy on the back, “No problem. See you in a bit.”

Once the lecture hall was empty, Eggsy turned back to Harry, “’Bout how long were you standin’ there, Doc?”

Harry chuckled, “Long enough. I hadn’t ever stopped in on one of your classes. Just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

He leaned back against the table, “Live up to yer expectations, did it?”

“I’m not quite sure what my expectations were, in all honesty.”

“Fair ‘nough. Was there somethin’ you wanted to talk ta me about?”

“Just the conference on Thursday.”

“Ah,” Eggsy felt a small wave of anxiety begin to flow over him, “I ‘aven’t gotten my spiel together yet, if that’s what you wanted to talk about.”

“That’s fine. After watching you with your students today I’m thinking maybe you won’t need as much preparation as you think you do.”

Eggsy laughed, “Nah, the students _wanna_ learn from me. I hardly need anythin’ when people are willing.”

“Yes but, I’ve taught some of those students,” he gestured to the now-empty lecture seats, “and they weren’t nearly that willing when I taught them.”

“Yea, but, ta be fair, you teach more technical stuff. I get to talk about the fun stuff.”

“No matter how fun the material I’ve never seen an entire class so engaged without threats of some kind.”

Eggsy shrugged as he put his bag onto his shoulder, “Well, guess I jus’ lucked out with them, yea?”

“Professor,” he stopped himself, “ _Gary_ , my apologies. But I was curious as to whether you’d be willing to talk about your own education experience at the conference as well as the teaching experience you’ve had thus far.”

“Don’ see why not,” the two of them walked down the hall and out of the building, “C’n I ask why?”

“I think it’d be good for the rest of the staff to learn how you adopted your current teaching style. Perhaps that might cause some of them to, erm, _adjust_.”

Eggsy smiled, “Ya mean they’ll lis’en ‘cos it’s not _really me_ tellin’ ‘em what to do?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he looked at Eggsy, “I hope you know this isn’t me condoning their behavior towards you. I still intend to say something about that.”

He laughed, “Doc, don’ worry about it. ‘S not the worst thing that’s ever ‘appened to me, yea?”

“It’s not right, though. You should feel comfortable coming to work every day.”

It was a valid point that Eggsy couldn’t argue with. But in the grand scheme of things, he’d been much more uncomfortable. The ignorance of his colleagues was small fish compared to what he’d dealt with in the past. The two of them walked into the English Department Building, knowing that they’d have to end their conversation since Eggsy’s office was upstairs and Harry’s was on the first floor. They stood in front of the stairs.

“I’ll get some stuff together fer Thursday and keep ya updated, yea?”

“Sounds like a fine idea, Gary.”

He nodded, “Aight, well, I’ll see ya round, Doc,” he shook the man’s hand.

“Thank you, Gary,” his hand lingered for a moment before he tucked it into the pocket of his slacks. He watched as Eggsy trotted on up the stairs to get to his office, off to douse whatever fire his students were coming to him with in their personal lives.

Harry turned around and was about to head down the hall to his office, when someone strode into the building and waved to catch his attention. It was a young man who looked to be around Eggsy’s age, perhaps a couple years older. He was holding the hand of a young girl, her braided pigtails flying as she turned her head in an attempt to look at absolutely everything.

“Hey, ‘cuz,” the young man walked up to him, “Don’t mean to be a bother, but could you tell me where Gary Unwin’s office is? They told me to come here but this is a pretty big building.”

“His office is on the third floor,” Harry looked at him, trying to figure out the relationship between the two, and the young girl who clung absently to the young man’s had, “Is he your professor?”

“What?” he laughed, “No, no, nothing like that. He’s a friend. His little sister’s been asking for ‘im all day. Figured we’d stop by quick if he wasn’t teaching.”

“Ah, I see,” Harry knew he was going to end this conversation with more questions than answers, “Well I believe he’s meeting with a student right now, but he has no other classes to teach today. So once his meeting is over I’m sure he’d love to see his sister.”

“Cool, thanks, ‘cuz,” he scooped up the girl, smiling as she laughed.

“We gonna see Eggsy?” her eyes sparkled with excitement.

The boy nodded as he propped her on his hip, walking up the stairs, “We are, we’re gonna go see Eggsy.”

Harry smiled to himself as the two of them set off on their search. In a matter of days Harry quickly began to think of Professor Unwin as the most intriguing member of his staff. He pondered over the nickname the two of them said, but he knew that there was no hope in even trying to decipher that without asking.

Jamal and Daisy waited outside the door to Eggsy's office for a few minutes. When it finally opened, a young man walked out and Eggsy leaned on the doorframe. His eyes were full of sympathy, “Lis’en, if they keep givin’ you problems, I want you ta come and tell me, aight? ‘Cos what they’re doing isn’t okay.”

He nodded, “Thanks, Prof. I really appreciate all’a this.”

Eggsy shook his head, “No need ta thank me. Be careful, aight?” He turned and saw his friend and little sister standing there. Shock spread across his face for a moment before he broke out into a smile, “Well ay there!” he crouched down and held his arms out so his sister could run and get swept up, “How’s my Dais?”

“I missed you!” she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his torso.

He smiled as he rested his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment, “I missed you too,” he looked up at his friend and fist-bumped his, “Jamal, bruv, ‘aven’t seen you in forever.”

He laughed, “I know, ‘cuz, I know. This whole both of us having jobs things is a drag.”

“Innit?” he smiled, “What’re you two doing here?”

He shrugged and gestured towards Daisy, “Your mum said she’s been missing you, and she knew I haven’t seen you in a while. Two birds, one stone, I guess.”

“Cool. Well, I’m glad I got ta see the both of you,” he kissed Daisy on the cheek, “You got plans fer the rest’a the day?”

Jamal shook his head, “Not a single one, ‘cuz.”

“You wanna hang and have dinner at my flat t’night? It’s a bit of a mess with papers an’ everythin’, but I’ll cook.”

“You convinced me,” he laughed.

Eggsy looked at his sister, “Sound good, Dais?” She beamed and nodded excitedly. He smiled and kissed her forehead, “I gotta set you down quick, okay? I gotta pack up my stuff then we c’n get going.”

Jamal sat down in one of the two chairs in front of Eggsy’s desk, and Daisy climbed up into his lap, waiting patiently for her older brother. Eggsy shuffled around his small office and threw folders, papers, and books of all kinds into his bag. He loosened his tie and tossed it onto his desk before shrugging off his jacket and hanging it up so he could put it on again the following day. He was left with just his polo and jeans. He was the only person on the planet who would wear all those things at once and make it look professional. He turned around and started to shut down his laptop and tuck a last few things away, and when he turned around, Daisy had his tie tied around her forehead, Jamal tightening it just enough so that it wouldn’t fall off. Eggsy just laughed and shook his head as he slung his bag onto his shoulder.

“Ready?” he smiled at the two of them.

Daisy jumped and ran over, arms stretched up so Eggsy would pick her up. He smiled and couldn’t help but to indulge her in the simple pleasures like that. He sat her up on his shoulders and the three of them made their way out.

Just as they walked out of the building, Harry materialized out of what seemed like nowhere. He looked at Eggsy and his little sister, who still had her brother’s tie around her forehead, his heart warming at the sight of them. Eggsy wasn’t paying attention and nearly blew right past the man. He saw him at the last second and stopped, smiling bright.

“Ay, Doc, this’s my little sis, Daisy.”

Harry gave a warm smile, “We met briefly before,” he couldn’t think of something to say, too busy being enthralled in the scene in front of him. He only snapped back into reality when a student accidentally brushed his shoulder. He shook his head slightly in an attempt to collect his thoughts, “Well, it looks like you three are off to have a spot of fun.”

Eggsy nodded, “That’s the plan.”

“Eggsy’s gonna make dinner,” Daisy said as she messed up her brother’s hair.

“Oh,” Harry grinned, “is that right, _Eggsy_?”

His face instantly turned red, “Ah, bollocks,” he half-mumbled.

“No wonder _Professor_ is a far stretch,” he smiled good-naturedly, “Well, I won’t keep you. Have fun, you three. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

“Call me Harry, please.”

Eggsy’s cheeks flushed pink, “Thanks, Harry. See you Thursday.”

He nodded, “That you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't originally planned for Daisy to really be a part of the story but then I thought, Why Not? Because the brother/sister dynamic is my fave and I love making Eggsy a total sap for his sister.
> 
> Oh and _Cloud Atlas_ is like my favorite book/movie combo in the world so that's why I'm using it in this story haha. If you're ever looking for something new to get into, I suggest it.


	3. Chapter 3

“So your boss seems pretty cool,” Jamal said as he draped a blanket over Daisy, who’d fallen asleep on the couch right after dinner.

Eggsy shrugged as he stacked all the dishes in the washer, “Yea, ‘e seems aight so far. There’s gotta be at least _one_ person on that damn campus who is.”

“What’s been goin’ on, ‘cuz?”

He collapsed into one of the chairs around his kitchen table, “They’re all just such _pricks_ , bruv,” he ran his fingers through his hair, “Got their silver spoons shoved too far up their asses…I swear ta God if the students weren’t so great I’d walk righ’ the fuck outta there.”

“As much as it sucks that they’re like that, there’s always gonna be more students than professors. If they’re on your side your colleagues are a bit outnumbered.”

Eggsy chuckled, “Yea, guess your right. Certainly don’t hurt that the head of the department seems ta think I’m not a total failure.”

“Yea, that never hurts,” he laughed for a moment before his face sobered up again, “Why din’t you say anything about this before, ‘cuz?”

“I was just ‘appy that I had a job, yea? And ta get one at a legit university really says somethin’. I wasn’t just gonna bail ‘cos a few people didn’t like me. I mean,” he gave a half-hearted laugh, “what else is new? And b’sides,” he glanced over at Daisy, “I’m tryna get my life together. Dais needs someone in her family who has at least that much. Hopefully if I do well enough I c’n get her and Mum out of that Hell-Hole of a flat with Dean.”

Jamal pulled out two glasses out of the cupboard and poured them each a glass of whiskey. He slid one to Eggsy before sitting down across from him, “And you’re getting there, ‘cuz. I don’t really think you’re giving yourself enough credit.”

They each gave a quiet, “Cheers,” and clinked cups before Eggsy threw his back. He set the cup back down on the table and rested his hands behind his head, “Yea, I know. I’m just stressed, ‘s’all. I’ll get over it,” he didn’t want to keep talking about himself, it was his least favorite topic. He turned it back on Jamal and asked him how his work was going, “You been able to focus even with that girl you share an office with?”

He laughed and shook his head, but it was an effective conversation changer. And as glad as Eggsy was to not have to talk about his own life anymore, he really did like knowing how all of his friends were doing. He felt like he’d gotten so out of touch with everyone.

After a while, an alarm on Eggsy’s phone went off telling him that it was time to get some grading done. Usually it was set to wake him up from a nap, but this worked just as well. He sighed, “It’s gettin’ late, bruv.”

Jamal nodded, “Yea, I better get her home,” he stood up and stretched, “Thanks for dinner, ‘cuz.”

Eggsy shook his head, “Don’ mention it. Ay, I’ll take care’a Dais tonight and bring her ta school tomorrow before I head to work. Don’t worry about bringing her home.”

“You sure?”

He nodded, “I’ll call my mum and let her know.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

Eggsy hugged him, “It was good seein’ you again.”

“You too, ‘cuz. Don’t be a stranger, yea?”

He laughed as his friend walked out the door, “I’ll try not ta be. Ay, bruv, lemme know when you get home?”

Jamal chuckled, “Sure thing, Mum.”

He rolled his eyes, “Thank you, son.” 

The next morning, Eggsy got Daisy dressed and ready for school, patting himself on the back for being forward-thinking enough to pack some of her clothes when he moved into his flat, for occasions such as this. It’d been too long since he was able to spend a morning with her. She sat patiently while he braided her hair, smiling and going on about the kids in school. Eggsy hadn’t felt so happy in ages as he asked her to tell more and more stories.

When they got to the school, Daisy grabbed Eggsy’s hand and dragged him to her classroom. He was more than happy to go, he just didn’t think that she’d be so excited to have him there. He wondered when she’d start going through the phase of thinking her older brother was lame. It was nice to know that it hadn’t started yet.

“Mrs. K!” she stopped right in front of her teacher, “Mrs. K, this is my brother!”

The woman smiled and held out her hand, “Ah, so you’re the _Eggsy_ we’re always hearing about?”

He chuckled and shook her hand with the one Daisy wasn’t holding onto, “You can call me Gary, Mrs. K.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Gary. Daisy here always talks about how great her big brother is.”

He smiled down at his little sister, who was slowly starting to wander off to talk to her friends. “Funny, I tell people how great my sis is all the time.”

The woman smiled as she walked over to her desk, rifling through a few papers for a moment before picking one up and handing it to Eggsy. “I had them draw a superhero, and write about what made this person a superhero. It didn’t have to be someone from real life or a comic book, they could make them up. But Daisy didn’t have to use too much imagination…”

He smiled, feeling himself getting emotional over the drawing in his hands. Daisy was still young, and her artistic skills were limited, but it was clear who she’d drawn. It was Eggsy, with a tie on and a cape, with a belt buckle that was just a huge “E”. He laughed as he saw she drew in his winged Adidas. He handed the paper back to her teacher, “She’s somethin’ else, that’s fer sure.”

“You must be proud.”

He nodded, “Always have been,” he glanced at the time on his phone, “I don’t mean to just leave, but I’ve got a class to teach soon.”

She nodded understandingly, “Of course. Thank you for coming in, it was nice to finally meet you.”

He said goodbye to Daisy, who ran up and jumped into his arms. He laughed as he pulled her into a tight hug. He kissed her on the forehead, “I’ll see you soon, yea? Keep behavin’ fer Mrs. K, aight?”

She nodded, “I love you, Eggsy.”

He kissed her nose, “Love you too, Dais. You’re my number one girl.”

The whole thing was enough to keep him smiling for the rest of the day, and the rest of the week for that matter. Even with the conference getting closer and closer by the hour he couldn’t find himself getting too stressed, because when he did all he had to do was think about how happy his little sister had been when he brought her to school. It was the little things.

Thursday morning Harry stopped by Eggsy’s office before going to teach his own class. He knocked on the door, smiling slightly when Eggsy cued him in without even looking up from the papers on his desk.

“What c’n I,” he looked up, his face breaking out into a smile, “ay, ‘Arry, how are you?”

“I’m well, thank you. I just wanted to check in and make sure you’re still willing to speak at the conference today…”

Eggsy’s eyes went wide, “That’s _today_?” Harry’s face went pale and Eggsy could tell that he was trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make Eggsy nervous or embarrassed. Finally, the boy couldn’t keep a straight face any longer and he broke out into laughter, “Bruv, relax, I’m just messin’ with you. ‘Course I’m still gonna speak. Can’t disappoint my colleagues now can I?”

Harry laughed, “I like your attitude, Gary.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Prob’ly the first time anyone’s ever said that ta me.”

“I doubt that,” he chuckled and shook his head, “But, I have to get going. My students may not like me as much as yours like you but I do still have to teach them. So, I’ll see you at the conference. If anything changes or you have any questions, just email me.”

“Will do, bruv. Have fun in class,” he winked, immediately regretting the decision. He considered it his worst natural reflex.

Harry fought to not show that the gesture caught him off-guard. “I always try to, at the very least,” he smiled, taking it as a form of flattery, and excused himself from the young man’s office. All throughout his lecture Harry found his mind wandering off, a smile creeping back onto his face whenever he thought about it. More than once he got caught up on his own words and had to restart his sentence, something he never struggled with before.

Starting time for the conference rolled around, and Eggsy felt himself getting more and more nervous with every second that passed without Harry there. He was head of the department, so surely he wouldn’t miss a conference? He had to start the whole thing, and not to mention introduce Eggsy. There was no way the boy was just going to get up and start talking. He was brave, but not _that_ brave.

A few minutes later, Harry came bursting through the door, briefcase barely held in his hand. He sighed as he set it down on the chair next to Eggsy’s and stood at the head of the table.

“Sorry I’m late, gentlemen,” he laughed, “But it wouldn’t be a department meeting if I was on time. Now, we’ve got a few things to discuss today,” he gave a brief overview of the agenda. It wasn’t going to be a lengthy conference by any means, but he’d rather have multiple short meetings like this throughout the semester than just one or two that took hours on end. “So, our first speaker today is none other than the newest member of our department, Professor Unwin,” he made a point to note the slight change in the air of the room, the looks on the older men and women’s faces, “Now, the main reason I wanted Gary to speak today was because, after reviewing department evaluations, it was clear that he was by far the most effective professor these last two semesters. There was more improvement and positive feedback from his students than anyone else’s, including mine. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt any of us, any of _you_ ,” he shot a brief but pointed look at Dr. King, “to learn a thing or two from our kind, young Professor here, seeing as how he’s actually getting all of his students to enjoy literature and analysis. That being said, Professor Unwin, would you care to take the floor?”

Eggsy fought to keep his hands from trembling as he stood up, nodding respectfully to Harry. “Thanks fer the kind introduction, Dr. Hart. I’ll try ta live up to it,” he chuckled, “Aight, so, I’ll be honest, when Dr. Hart asked me to talk about my teaching methods and own education experience, I wasn’t really sure what I was gonna say that you all wouldn’t already know. But, after talkin’ to him about it a bit, I fig’red I’d start with the basics: getting students to participate. Now, I dunno, my main thing with it is to not make it seem like a chore. So usually I…”

He continued on, and the more he talked, the more comfortable he got with it all. His shoulders relaxed and his hand gestures came back, earning a smile from Harry. He’d seen how animated Eggsy was when lecturing his class, and when he saw a little bit of that start to shine through as he spoke to the professors, he couldn’t help but to find himself a little infatuated with the young man. The way his bright green eyes lit up, and one side of his mouth would occasionally kick up into a smirk. Every now and then he’d glance at Harry, raising his eyebrows ever-so slightly as if to ask if he was doing this right. Harry would give a nod of approval, just enough for Eggsy to notice and feel reassured before diving into his next point.

By the end of his spiel, which he had gotten through quicker than he thought he had, Eggsy had commanded respect from most of his colleagues, even if they didn’t _like_ him per se. He proved to have enough knowledge and composure that they’d refrain from the backhanded compliments they’d been giving him, at least for a little while. He found his seat next to Harry and looked over at him, a crooked and relieved smile on his face.

Harry grinned at him as they waited for the next person to start their next topic of discussion. “Well done,” he said quietly.

“You think I did alright?”

He nodded, “More than alright.”

Eggsy’s whole body visibly relaxed, “Thank God,” he fought the urge to loosen his tie, “thought my legs were gonna give out fer a minute there.”

When everything was over with, all the professors were saying goodbye. There were quick handshakes, a few respectful nods between those who weren’t really all that close or fond of each other. Eggsy rested his hand on Harry’s shoulder for a moment to get the man’s attention, “Hey, Doc,” he glanced at the man who had been standing towards the back of the room for most of the conference, “Who’s ‘e?” Eggsy knew most all of the faces of the professors in the English department, and he couldn’t recall ever seeing this man before.

“Ah,” Harry smiled, “Let me introduce you, actually,” he rested his hand between Eggsy’s shoulder blades and guided him over, all the while the young man was fighting away the feelings of warmth he got from the slight bit of contact. Harry’s voice brought him halfway back to reality, “Gary, this is Merlin, personal friend of mine as well as head of the Chemistry Department.”

Eggsy held out his hand, “Nice to meet you, Merlin.”

He nodded as he shook his hand, “The feeling is mutual. Dr. Hart here tells me you’re the best professor in the department.”

He chuckled and glanced at the man beside him, his cheeks flushing pink for a fraction of a second, “’Arry, don’ go givin’ people reason to have high expectations of me, aight? Don’t wanna _immediately_ disappoint them.”

Merlin raised his eyebrows and looked at Harry, surprised that the two of them were mutually on a first-name basis. Harry usually preferred that his colleagues call him Dr. Hart unless they had a friendship outside of the university. Merlin could count on one hand how many people called Harry by his first name, and he was one of them.

“Lad, if it’s any comfort,” Merlin smiled cheekily, “my expectations for any new professor are fairly low until I see an actual reason to believe otherwise.”

“ _Merlin_ ,” Harry sounded like a mother chastising her child.

Eggsy laughed and shook his head, “Don’ worry. I appreciate the honesty.”

“To be fair, though, from your speech there it almost seems like you know what you’re doing.”

“Ya think so?”

“Aye, pretty impressive. What’s even more impressive than that, though, was that Harry here managed to be less than ten minutes late,” he handed the man a slip of cash, “You win this time.”

Harry laughed as he tucked it into his pocket, “Well, I thought that Gary might be nervous enough about this without me being late, so I got here as on time as I could manage.”

Merlin looked to Eggsy, “He must think you’re quite something if he tries to be on time for you. _I_ don’t even get that kind of concern and we’ve been friends since before we could drive.”

“That’s exactly _why_ you don’t get that kind of concern,” Harry laughed and rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he turned to Eggsy, “I don’t mean to hold you up, Gary. I’m sure you’ve got plenty to do.”

He shrugged, “Just grading to do. Same as usual,” he reached up and loosened his tie, “But I do ‘avta start making a dent in that,” he turned to Merlin and held out his hand, “It was nice meetin’ you, Merlin.”

“You as well.”

He turned back to Harry, “Thanks again fer lettin’ me get up there and, well, prove I’m not just ‘ere ‘cos of positive discrimination or educational politics or nothin’.”

There was a smile plastered across Harry’s face, “Of course. And please, Gary, if there’s any other issues please, don’t hesitate to come and see me about them, alright? It’s my job to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible for everyone in my department, and that includes you.”

He smiled sheepishly, “Will do. Aight, I’ll see you both, well, next time I see you.” He grabbed his bag and made his way out of the conference room and back towards his office to pack up for the day.

Once he was out of sight, Merlin turned and looked at Harry, an intrigued smile on his face, “I think we need to grab a pint and talk, my friend.”

Harry gave him a confused look, “What about?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “I just feel like I’ve missed a thing or two in the English Department lately.”

“Well that’s what happens when you stay holed up in your lab for weeks on end.”

Merlin simply smiled and nodded as he placed his arm around his friend’s shoulders, “Come on, let’s catch up then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept Merlin's name as Merlin because, well, why not?
> 
> And _of course_ I had to make him a science professor because of reasons.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy and Dean get into it a bit in this one. Nothing too detailed or graphic, but I owe it to you guys to let you know just in case. Didn't want to catch anyone off-guard. Felt it was wrong to mention the whole family situation in passing and not touch on it a bit more.

Harry sat in his office the next day once his classes were done, slowly working his way through essays. After a while, though, he had to take a break because they’d all start to look the same. More than once he’d caught himself thinking, _“Haven’t I read this already?”_ And that was the worst part of grading some assignments that didn’t allow for too much variability. It made him feel like he was going insane.

There was a knock and he looked up, surprised to see Dr. King in his doorway. He nodded, setting his pen down and gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk, “Dr. King, what a nice surprise. Please, take a seat.”

He politely shook his head, “I’ll only be a moment. I had a question regarding Professor Unwin.”

Harry took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever was about to happen, “Is that so? What’s your question?”

“There were rumors flitting around the department that he’ll be taking on more advanced classes, and I was just curious as to whether or not that was true.”

Harry cast him a look, “I think what you’re actually trying to ask me, Dr. King, is if our newest professor will be taking any of your course-load, is that right?”

“I just think that it’d be a bit unfair seeing as how he hasn’t been with us very long.”

“That doesn’t particularly matter if he’s good at his job, now does it?”

The look on his face showed that he knew he was stepping out of his boundaries, “Dr. Hart, I never said that he wasn’t good at his job, bu-”

“Good, because from the looks of things he’s been performing much better than you have. In answer to your question Dr. King, while it is still early in _this_ semester to be worrying about _next_ semester, I have been entertaining the idea of passing on more classes to Professor Unwin if he feels that he can handle it and would like to. And if that just so happens to be the case, you should be thankful because perhaps with fewer classes to teach you can teach the few you will still have, well,” he nodded to the door, “If you’d be so kind as to leave me to my grading, I’d appreciate it.”

The man stood in front of Harry’s desk for a moment with a dumbstruck expression on his face. He’d never heard Harry talk to anyone, student or colleague, like that before. He didn’t know how to respond. He swallowed hard and walked quickly out of the man’s office, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Once he knew that he was gone, Harry leaned back in his chair and sighed. Dealing with problems like this wasn’t why he had become a professor, or head of the department for that matter, but it came with the territory. Most times he simply ignored the gossip that floated through the department, because he didn’t have any personal use for it, but now it seemed that he wasn’t going to be able to escape it.

He reached forward and took his office phone off the receiver, his fingers centimeters away from the numbers. He thought about it for a moment before setting the phone back down and returning to his grading. That discussion was one that could at least wait until the next week.

By the time that Harry finished everything that he wanted to it was much later than he had expected it to be. As he walked out to his car, he heard footsteps behind him, ignoring them out of habit so as not to get roped into a conversation he didn’t want to be in. He stopped, though, when he heard Eggsy’s voice behind him. He wasn’t speaking to Harry, but he halted nonetheless.

“Aight, I told you, I’m on my way,” he had the firm tone that worried parents have when they’re not _mad_ necessarily, but just overwhelmed, “I’ll be over as soon as I can. No, no, it’s fine, Mum. I’m glad you called. I’ll be there in less than ten, promise,” he sighed, “I love you too.”

He hung up and let out a groan as he walked up to his car, leaning his head against the window of it, fighting the urge to punch it. For as frustrated as he was, he knew that wasn’t going to make matters any better.

“Gary?” he walked over, trying to give the young man some space, “Is everything alright?”

He looked up, his eyes slightly red from trying to hold back tears. He took a deep breath and forced an incredibly convincing smile, “Yea, yea everythin’s alright. Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

He nodded, not really believing it but knowing he had no grounds to pry, “Well, I’ll leave you be, then. Have a good weekend.”

“You too, ‘Arry. Thanks,” he tossed his bag on the back seat of his car before climbing in.

He flew through the parking lot and peeled out onto the road. Harry would be lying if he said that it hadn’t caught him off-guard. He didn’t have Eggsy pegged as the reckless type, really. But then again, he didn’t know him all that well.

Eggsy pulled up to the complex where his mother and Dean lived, and right away he spotted Dean’s car in the parking lot. He took a deep breath, knowing that he was about to walk into a total shitshow. He had to act like he didn’t know anything, because that would only make things worse for his mother.

He knocked on the door and heard Dean’s muffled but angry, “Who’s there?”

“Eggsy,” he fought to sound calm, “C’n I come in?”

A few moments of silence passed before the door was yanked open. Eggsy was bombarded by the smell of liquor and knew that Dean was on one of his drunken rampages. Eggsy’s presence wasn’t going to do much to stop it, but he could at least take some of the heat off of his mom and sister.

“Whaddya want?” Dean didn’t allow Eggsy to step through the doorway.

He shrugged, “I just wanted to stop by and say ay. I haven’t seen Mum and Daisy in a while, fig’red they’d be home on a Friday relaxin’, so I’d probably catch ‘em here.”

Dean eyed him suspiciously before turning back to Michelle, “You call him?”

She quickly shook her head, “No, no I swear I didn’t. I haven’t spoken to him in…” her voice trailed off and she realized how long it’d been before that phone call that she heard her son’s voice.

“She didn’t call me, bruv,” Eggsy interjected, “C’n I come in or not?”

He stepped closer, “I don’t like your tone, Muggsy.”

“Yea, well, some things never change,” he stepped into the flat and looked around for a moment, “Where’s Dais?”

“Bed,” Dean barked.

Eggsy glanced down at his watch, “It’s hardly seven, bruv. A bit early even fer ‘er, innit?”

“You tryin’ to tell me how to raise my kid?”

Michelle stepped between them, and Eggsy could see her one cheek starting to swell, “No, no he’s not,” she turned back to Eggsy, “Maybe tonight’s not the best night, babe.”

Eggsy could tell by the look in her eyes that she was regretting having called him. It only made him want to stay even more. He shrugged, “I think it’s fine, Mum. I’ll stop by another time to see Daisy. But I ‘aven’t seen you in a while,” he gestured to the couch, “C’mon, I wanna know how you’ve been.”

“I think she’s asking you to leave,” the bite in Dean’s voice wasn’t subtle in any way.

Eggsy looked at him, his eyes cold, “Nah, bruv, I think that’s what _you’re_ asking me ta do. Just so ‘appens though, yer not my dad and I don’t gotta lissen ta you.”

Dean reached forward and grabbed Eggsy by the collar of his shirt, and the young man was thankful that he’d left his tie in his office or this scene would look very different, “You think this is a fuckin’ game, talkin’ to me like that?”

“Like what, Dean? Like the way you talk to yer goons, or me, or Mum?”

He lifted Eggsy off the ground just enough so that he could slam him against the refrigerator. Michelle cried out for him to stop, but she was ignored by the both of them, “You better watch that mouth of yours, Muggsy. Walk up in here in your clown suit an’ talk down to me like that.”

Eggsy reached forward and pushed as hard as he could given that Dean’s hand was around his throat. It wasn’t much, but the man was drunk enough so that he had the desired effect, he wobbled and had to let go of Eggsy to stabilize himself.

“An’ you better watch the way you treat my Mum and sis, bruv. If I come back here again an’ there’s more marks on ‘er face, you bet I’ll-”

Dean pulled him close by the cloth of his shirt, his breath nearly causing Eggsy to gag, “You tryin’ to threaten me?”

Eggsy glared at him, “Not _trying_.”

Without hesitation, Dean caught him across the cheek and Eggsy bit back a sound of pain. Michelle clamped her hand over her mouth, knowing that saying anything was only going to make things worse for everyone. The boy’s eyes watered but he didn’t back down.

“You think that was gonna accomplish somethin’?” Eggsy glared at him.

“You don’t want to do this, boy.”

Eggsy spat the blood out of his mouth from the first hit, “I think I do.”

“Michelle,” Dean called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the boy in front of him, “Get outta here.”

“Dean, please,” she begged desperately.

“ _Get_!”

“It’s fine, Mum,” Eggsy sounded a little too calm, “Go, make sure Dais is alright.”

Once the sound of footsteps died out, a sick smile crossed Dean’s face, “You’ll have a whole new meaning for the word regret once I’m done with you, Muggsy.”

Eggsy swallowed hard; he’d never been so afraid in his life. Something felt very different about this tonight. It wasn’t the first time he’d ever run interference, making sure that if Dean was going to beat on anyone it’d be him. But even so, there was a trembling in Eggsy’s limbs that he couldn’t fight off, and that never happened before. Maybe he did push too far this time.

*

He got up to get ready for work that morning, and as he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t help but to sigh. When he was a student and he came to school beat up it was one thing, but as a professor it was another. At two days, the bruises were just reaching their full potential in regards to color. They weren’t going to be gone anytime soon. He’d be angry but his mom had let him know after he left that Dean had passed right out, leaving her and Daisy to themselves for the night. That made it worth it in a very martyr-like sense.

He went straight to his lecture hall that day, not wanting to walk through the department building with all the discoloration on his face and neck. Luckily his collar kept his neck covered, but there was no getting around the black eye and bruises on his cheeks. He wouldn’t have minded the pain he was in if there weren’t any marks.

He began writing on the blackboard, listening as the door continued to open and close as students started to flow in. Normally he’d greet them all, ask how their weekends were, but he was still trying to figure out how to address the matter of his face if one of his students ventured to ask. It was bound to happen, since he had a good relationship with most all of them.

“Ayo, Prof,” Tyler came bounding into the room, sounding a million times better than when Eggsy had spoken to him the previous, “You’re about to be so proud of me.”

Eggsy turned around, bracing himself for whatever the boy’s reaction was going to be, “I’m always proud of you, Tyler. But what is it this time?”

The boy’s face dropped as he looked at his professor, “Gary, mate, what the fuck happened?”

Eggsy laughed, “Bar brawl.”

Tyler’s eyes widened, “No shit?”

He shook his head, “You should see the other guy,” he nudged the boy’s shoulder, “But c’mon, bruv, why’m I gonna be proud’a you?”

He immediately dropped the subject of his professor’s face and delved into his own story, one that he’d been waiting for what felt like forever to tell. Once he took note of all the studetns who had walked in after then and were in their seats, he quickly finished his tale. “Aight,” he laughed, “I just wanted to let you know.”

Eggsy nodded, “You were right, bruv. I am proud of you.”

He beamed, “Thanks, Prof,” he turned and slid into the same seat he always had.

Eggsy tried to carry on his lecture as normal, but even he couldn’t pretend not to notice that his students were looking at him differently. There wasn’t a way to talk about it, and he didn’t want to have to lie to his entire hall of kids. He had too much respect for them to do that.

“Alright, so,” class was finally drawing to a close, “finish the book for Wednesday. We’ll have discussion then and most likely Friday, and then next week we’ll start the movie.”

“Quiz on Friday still, Prof?”

He nodded, “’Course. So those of you who haven’t yet, I’d read up, yea?” he smiled, “I’ll see you all Wednesday.”

He was erasing the board when he heard someone clear their throat, just loud enough for him to hear. Lily stood in front of him, sheepishly staring down at her shoes. She looked up at him and offered a crooked smile.

“Lily, everythin’ alright?”

She nodded, “Yea, I’m fine. I was just, um, I know it’s not really my business, but, are you,” she looked at him, “Are you okay?”

His expression softened into a tired but sincere smile, “I’ll be alright, Lil. Don’t worry. Just ran inta a bit of trouble this weekend.”

“Some trouble…”

“I’m fine, I swear. I made it in ta teach, didn’t I?”

She laughed, nodding, “I guess you did. I’ll see you Wednesday, Professor?”

He smiled, “That you will.”

Once she was out of the room, he took a deep breath and loosened his tie a bit. He looked up at the ceiling as if the tiles and lights would give him the answer to some unasked question about his life. “Throw a dog a bone, yea?”

The door creaked open and Eggsy spun around, quickly tightening his tie again, almost a little too tight. When he saw that it was Harry, he was torn between being relieved and being even more anxious. The smile on his face immediately dropped as he looked at the young man in front of him.

“Gary, what hap-”

“Don’t ask,” he said it firmly but with a smile, “I don’t wanna lie ta you, so just, don’t ask.”

Harry nodded, suddenly feeling very unsure of everything he thought he knew about his colleague, “Fair enough.”

“There somethin’ you wanted to talk to me about?”

Suddenly, he couldn’t remember why he’d made his way down to Eggsy’s lecture hall in the first place. He’d been so thrown off by Eggsy’s appearance that nothing else was falling back to where it was supposed to be. He thought hard on it for a few moments but came up with nothing. He looked up, an embarrassed expression on his face, “I’m drawing a blank, I’m afraid.”

Eggsy chuckled, “No sweat, bruv,” he made his way towards the door, “I’m heading to my next class. If you’ve got nowhere ta be you’re more than welcome to sit in again. Kinda funny watching the kids get nervous with the head of the department around.”

Harry laughed, still not quite able to look past the bruises, “As amusing as that sounds, Gary, I’m afraid I’ve my own class to teach.”

He nodded, “Aight, well, I’ll see you around then, ‘Arry.”

“Until next time.”

Eggsy made his way down the hall and said hello to various students, trying his hardest to ignore the change in expression. He sorely missed being a student, because at least then, the bruises were assumed to have come from a drunken fight at some party, or a drunken accident of some kind. But once you were in a position of authority, everything changed. Despite the worried looks from students, he could feel someone staring at him. He turned around and saw Harry still frozen outside the door to the lecture hall they were both just in. Eggsy flashed him a smile and a wink before turning the corner.


	5. Chapter 5

Eggsy thanked his lucky stars that the bruises began to fade a little faster than he thought they would. The swelling went down enough with a day or two so that he could wear his glasses again. That fact alone was a saving grace because it was awfully hard to read and grade papers without full use of his eyesight. By the end of the week, he looked almost like his old self again.

He handed essays back to his students as they walked through the door. He could tell so much about them by the expression on their face as they took the paper. He’d never been an overly harsh grader. As long as you fulfilled the requirements, had decent grammar (you’re in college, after all), and seemed like you at least _attempted_ to give a shit you would do pretty well. And his students all knew that. But even so, there were students whose eyes would widen as they took their papers back and eagerly flipped through to read comments and find their grade. He admired those students in a way. That was a level of dedication that he never really had when he was their age. He was just lucky enough to have a knack for academics. If he knew a class was more or less an easy-A, no one would catch him stressing about it even for a moment.

He smiled as he handed Marissa’s paper back to her. Panic crossed her face and he shook his head, “No need to be nervous, Marissa. Yer paper was fantastic. I’m glad you asked for the extension. That was some quality work.”

Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled, still a little nervous, “Thanks, Professor. I really appreciate it.”

Once everyone had shown up and was in their seats, all looking over their papers and comparing theirs to their friends’, Eggsy spoke up. “Alright, now that you all got the good news of your papers, put your things away we’re going to have a quiz.” There were multiple groans in the crowd, making Eggsy laugh and roll his eyes, “Oh shut it, I warned you about this quiz foreva ago, yea? Now put yer notes away.”

Everyone handed their quiz down the line, and once Eggsy had everything packed away, he turned around with a smile, glad to be able to rest a bit and just play the movie. He sat cross-legged on the table at the front of the classroom and watched the movie with as much interest as the first time he saw it. He knew he said they'd start it the following week, but it was Friday, and it wasn’t the biggest deal. He always scheduled in a few days of wiggle-room for things like that. 

When class was almost over, he paused the film. “Aight,” he laughed as he stood up, “Imma turn the lights on now, so no one get scared,” he flicked the lights on, “I’m gonna let you go a few minutes early. If you’ve got questions about your paper you can see me now or at office hours. You c’n email me if you want, but I know the lot of you would rather see me in person,” he laughed and winked, “Yer dismissed.”

As Eggsy was making his way out to his car at the end of the day, he passed by Harry and Merlin, who must’ve just been getting back from the other side of campus where most the science buildings were.

He smiled and gave a courteous nod but kept walking. He had plans and that fact aside, he was still slightly intimidated by Merlin. He’d never admit it to the man or to Harry, but he definitely stood a little straighter and spoke a little more clearly when he was around, ironically enough since Merlin didn’t have any real problems with the boy. But Eggsy paid him more respect than he paid his own colleagues. In the back of his mind he knew it was because Harry respected him and that his opinion mattered, but on a surface level Eggsy told himself it was because Merlin was tall and strong-looking and quiet but sarcastic. That was enough to make anyone nervous.

“Gary,” Harry said with a smile, “Do you have any plans tonight? Merlin and I are going to go grab a pint and try to start to recover from the week,” he laughed, “You’re more than welcome to join us if you’d like.”

Eggsy smiled, flattered at the invite, and felt his face turn pink, “Oh, um, thanks ‘Arry I appreciate it. But I’ve…I’ve act’ally got plans t’night,” he cleared his throat nervously, “Rain check?”

His expression faltered for a moment, but he recovered quickly, “Of course, of course. Have a good weekend.”

Eggsy nodded, “You too, bruv,” he turned to Merlin, “’Ave a good one, Merlin.”

Merlin smiled and nodded, “You as well, Gary.”

“Stay safe,” Harry said with a slightly worried expression. He didn’t want to see Eggsy on Monday with a bruised face again.

Eggsy laughed nervously, “Ain’t no guarantees on that,” he tried his hardest to make it sound sarcastic, like a joke, but the worry in his eyes thwarted his efforts, “But I’ll try.”

He kept on walking to his car, tossing his backpack in the back seat. When he sat down behind the wheel he let out a sigh. If he’d had plans with anyone besides Jamal and Ryan, he would’ve bailed the second Harry extended the invitation. But, as it stood, he and the guys had been trying to find a night all three of them had free for ages, so there was no turning back on that now. He put his car in gear and took off.

“I’d appreciate a heads-up next time, Harry,” Merlin said with a laugh.

“What?”

“I don’t really care to be the third-wheel to you and your colleague, but if I’m going to have to be I need at least an hour’s notice,” he flashed a cheeky smile.

Harry rolled his eyes, “You’re ridiculous.”

“He probably fancies you a bit too,” he said it as though it weren’t breaking news.

Harry tried to hide his interest in the comment, “Merlin, enough.”

“Oh, so we’re doing _that_ now? We’re going to pretend like you don’t gawk at the lad whenever you see him?”

He looked offended, “I don’t gawk, Merlin.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked down at Harry as they walked back towards the English Department Building, “Harry, I’ve seen you go through this process enough times in our years of friendship. You gawk at him.”

Despite his annoyance, he still held the door open for his friend, “And so what if I do? He’s a fine looking young man, even _you_ have to be able to see that.”

Merlin chuckled, “Not my type exactly, but I suppose you’re right,” he loved getting Harry riled, “Broke his heart that he had to say no to drinks with you.” 

“What?”

Merlin shook his head with a smile as he stood in the doorway of Harry’s office, “You’re really blind, aren’t you? Am I going to have to be your chaperon for all your interactions with this one?”

Harry gave him an unamused look, “I know what you’re doing.”

“Do you now?”

“You’re trying to get me in a fuss so I’ll say something ridiculous that you can hold against me,” he tucked a few things into his briefcase and shut it a little harder than normal, “But I’m not going to give you that satisfaction.”

“You have too much faith in me, Harry. I’m merely trying to explain the situation to you.”

“Well,” they made their way back out of the building, “while I appreciate your _concern_ , my feelings for the boy, or lack thereof, are none of your business.”

“Sure they are,” Merlin didn’t miss a beat, “You’re my friend, and he’s my colleague. Your feelings for him are completely my business.”

“Colleague is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”

“We work at the same university, don’t we?” he laughed as they reached the parking lot, “We’ll finish this discussion at the pub.”

“There’s no _discussion_ ,” he tried to sound angry but he was never good at faking it.

“Of course not,” he couldn’t have sounded more sarcastic if he tried.

When they got to the pub, Merlin didn’t set into him again about Eggsy right away; he knew that that tactic would get him nowhere. Instead they talked about pretty much everything else going on in their lives that they hadn’t caught up on yet. Merlin told Harry that he was getting a new Teaching Assistant, something he’d fought against practically since he was hired. Harry talked about his next paper that he was working on getting published. They couldn’t have sounded like more stereotypical professors if they tried.

The longer they talked, the more empty glasses seemed to build up. This is what Merlin had been waiting for. Harry was by no means a lightweight, but that was alright. He didn’t need to get the man drunk. Merlin knew, from years of experience, that Harry’s honesty level had a direct correlation with the number of alcoholic beverages he consumed. There was a window of pure honesty between Harry being sober and Harry being drunk, and Merlin planned to take full advantage of it. He waited for the conversation to hit another lull before approaching the topic again.

“Harry, my new TA, she’s new to the area. And she’s around Gary’s age, I’d say. I think they’d get along well; she seems to have the same sort of candor that the lad does. Do you think that he’d be open to showing her around, help her get acquainted with the university and the town?”

He looked up from his drink, “I don’t see why he wouldn’t be.”

Merlin leaned back in the booth with a smile, “Spectacular. She’s been saying how it’s been a bit lonely for her since she moved here, since most of her colleagues are older and she doesn’t really know anyone. But Gary seems like a perfectly friendly young man. I don’t think he’d have a problem taking her out on the town for drinks and the like, do you?”

“No, no, I don’t think that’d be a problem for him at all.”

There was a smug grin on Merlin’s face before he took on a feigned concerned expression, “You look a bit put-off, Harry. Something wrong?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Merlin,” that was the golden ticket start to any sentence, “I know I don’t know all that much about the boy, but as time goes on I think I find myself fancying him a bit more than I bargained for.”

“I see…”

“So the prospect of him painting the town red with a pretty, young girl in her twenties is a little troubling.”

“Have you considered telling him that you’d like to start seeing him on a less professional basis?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Honest to God, Merlin, it’s a constant effort to not choke on my own words when I talk to him.”

Merlin didn’t even try to hide the smile on his face, “I think you should try and figure out a way to talk to him, Harry.”

“I’ve been trying.”

“You need some advice? Romance isn’t really my forte but I’ll always help a friend in need.”

“You’ve already made up a plan, haven’t you?”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “Don’t be ridiculous. _Plan_ isn’t the right word for this at all.”

*

Eggsy walked into the bar and immediately spotted Ryan and Jamal. They were in the same spots that they always were. It was nice to know that after all this time they were still able to get their usual seats. As Eggsy walked over to them, he realized that he couldn’t really remember the last time the three of them had gotten together.

“Well lookit you,” Ryan said with a laugh, “Lookin’ like a respectable member of society.”

“They really let you get away with those kicks, ‘cuz?” Jamal laughed.

Eggsy smiled and shook his head as he sat down across from the two of them, “Missed you guys too.”

Ryan smirked, “Just messin’. How’ve ya been? Fell off the fuckin’ planet fer a bit there.”

Eggsy laughed, “Trust me bruv, I know. Work’s been crazy.”

“Ah, yes, educatin’ the youth. Everyone stayin’ in line?”

“Anyone tried to sleep their way to an A yet?” Jamal laughed

“You lot had a very diff’rent Uni experience than me, I think,” he chuckled, “These kids are pretty low-key.”

“Yea, all trust-fund babies,” Ryan said with a roll of his eyes.

“Ay,” Eggsy felt himself getting a little defensive, “They’re all good kids. Ain’t their fault they were born well-off. The professors on the other hand…” his voice trailed off.

“Oh, c’mon bruv,” Ryan laughed, “Talk some good shit. I dunno these people but I wanna know everythin’.”

Eggsy laughed, “They’re just such dickheads,” he nodded to Jamal, “’E already got a glimpse’a this when I saw him and Dais’ last week.”

“You fight anyone yet?” Ryan gave a knowing smile. Eggsy had never been one to be graceful when talked down to. He wondered if he was good at reining it in at work.

“Been close a couple times, bruv, I won’t lie. But those pricks ain’t worth losin’ my job, yea?”

Jamal gave an approving nod, “Look at you, ‘cuz, all grown up and thinking past your nose. Makes me damn proud.”

Eggsy laughed, “Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome, Son.”

The three of them sat there at their usual table chatting and catching up for hours. They couldn’t believe how much there was to talk about when they didn’t see each other practically every day. When they were younger and they went to the bar a few nights a week there weren’t nearly as many stories to tell, since more often than not they all lived their lives together; you wouldn’t find one of them without the other two. Things had changed so much.

“Last call, boys,” the bartender told them as he began gathering up empty bottles and glasses.

“Well shit,” Eggsy checked the time on his phone, “Time flies, yea?”

“Sure does,” Jamal stood up and stretched before walking over and tossing money for his tab on the surface of the bar, “Aight, we gotta make a pact that we won’t let this much time go by before we see each other again.”

“Honestly,” Ryan was digging around his pockets for cash, “this was ridiculous. No more goin’ MIA on each otha.”

“I don’ want the nex’ call I get from one’a you to be a bail call, got it?”

The three of them were walking through the parking lot to their cars, and Eggsy pulled his keys out of his pocket to unlock his.

“That car really yours, bruv?” Ryan asked with a smirk, “Or is Rott gonna come outta the woodworks pissed righ’ the fuck off again?”

Eggsy laughed, remembering the few adventures they’d all had thanks to Eggsy’s pick-pocketing skills, “Nah, bruv, my car runs way smoother'n ‘is.”

“Always upgradin’,” Ryan laughed.

They all stood there for a moment, giving the final warnings of staying safe and out of jail, and swearing to keep in touch with each other or _someone_ would get their ass kicked. It’s be done with love, of course, but it’d still be done. Finally there wasn’t much else to say and they all took off in their own directions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this was pretty much all Harry and Eggsy separate from each other, but it gave me the opportunity to write a little bit of intoxicated, pining Harry so I mean, I think it all evens out. ^.^
> 
> Oh, and I'm out of town for the next few days because of Thanksgiving, so there won't be updates on any of my stories. I'll be back by the end of the weekend though! Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it! If not, Happy Thursday! :) xox


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late-night updates because this is how I'm choosing to cope with finals week quickly approaching.

“Hey, Prof,” Tyler caught up to Eggsy as he made his way down the hall, “Can I ask you something?”

“’Course,” he slowed down to match his stride with his student’s.

“You teaching any other classes next semester? I’m gonna be putting my schedule together soon and if you’re teaching other courses I’ll sign up for ‘em.”

He couldn’t even try to hide his smile. It was reassuring that students wanted to actually continue learning from him. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have a solid answer for the kid. “I wish I knew, bruv. As of righ’ now, I’ve got your class, another section of your class, and an Intro to Creative Writing class. But I’m assumin’ you’ve already taken that.”

He sighed, “Yea, knocked that outta the way my first year.”

“Well, I’ll keep you updated if I end up gettin’ more classes thrown my way, yea? But even if I don’, you know where my office is and you c’n always swing by or email me,” he zipped up his jacket before walking out the door, “But there’s still plenty’a this semester left. Ya might change yer mind by the time it’s over.”

Tyler laughed, “Maybe,” he shoved his hands into his pockets to protect them from the cold wind, “I’ll catch you later.”

“’Ave a good one, Tyler.”

By the time that his classes were done, Eggsy was ready to pack it in and go straight home. He’d been reading through midterm portfolios from his Creative Writing class the night before and didn’t get nearly enough sleep. Unfortunately, it looked like it was going to happen that way again.

He stopped by the café on campus and ordered a cup of the strongest coffee they had. He smiled when the barista handed it to him and gave a kind, “Thank you,” before putting some money into the tip jar. He proceeded to drown his coffee in cream and sugar. He’d never been all that much for coffee; he’d always been more of a tea person. But even he couldn’t deny that this was his best shot at staying awake and being productive at the same time.

He was up to his ears in his students’ writing. His only saving grace was the fact that a majority of them were pretty fantastic writers. He’d always been good at writing, and apparently good at teaching it, but it wasn’t ever the aspect of his job that he was the most passionate about. He thrived off discussing theories in class about novels and doing analyses on things that people were actually interested in. But the students in his Creative Writing class all seemed to be dedicated and it certainly paid off. Their portfolios were filled with everything from poetry to short stories, some fictional and some not. Eggsy was impressed.

There was a knock at the door and Eggsy jerked his head up, exhausted but still wired from his coffee. He smiled when he saw Harry in the doorway, “Ay, bruv,” he glanced down at his watch and his jaw dropped when he saw the hour, “What’re you still doin’ here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Harry had the most amused grin on his face. Eggsy was in rare form, with his tie loosened and the first couple of buttons on his shirt undone. His glasses were so far down on his nose Harry wondered if the young man could really see anything through them. His hair was going in a few different directions, most likely from constantly running his hands through it. He had papers strewn all over his desk in a kind of organized chaos. The whole scene couldn’t help but to make Harry smile a bit.

Eggsy gestured to the entirety of his desk, “Midterms for my Intro class,” he sighed and set his pen down, running his hands over his face and through his hair, “What’re you still doing here though?”

“I had some business to attend to,” he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

And it was making Eggsy very self-conscious. He hadn’t been expecting any visitors, let alone Harry. He straightened himself up a bit and leaned forward onto his desk slightly, “Was there somethin’ you needed from me, ‘Arry?”

The first thought that popped into his head wasn’t the actual reason he’d shown up, although it was tempting to voice it anyway. He shook his head slightly to dispel the less professional musings. He took a deep breath, “It’s late, so if you’d rather discuss it at another time, I completely understand. But I wanted to talk to you about your courseload for next semester.”

Eggsy’s eyes brightened at that, “Take a seat Doc, I’ve got the time if you do.”

Harry smiled and sat down, undoing the buttons on his jacket as he did, “Well I know you’re teaching three classes this semester, which keeps you here on campus all five days. I was wondering if you felt up to taking on another course or two. Since you’re already here I thought maybe you’d like more thing to occupy your time with.”

“Sounds ace, bruv. What would they be?”

“Well, that’s just it, they’d be more advanced subjects. And it’s not that I think you can’t handle teaching them, I just didn’t know if you’d actually _want_ to. They’re not always as interesting as the courses you’ve taught in the past. The course matter is a bit drier; much more academic rather than theoretical.”

Eggsy laughed, “You got no faith in me, ‘Arry. I c’n make anythin’ interesting.”

Harry chuckled, “I have no doubt.”

“Well, I’ll tell ya this, if you can let me know what courses I’d be teaching, I’ll let you know fer sure if I wanna teach them. But I don’ think there’s anythin’ really that you c’n throw my way that I’d say no to.”

“Splendid. I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic about this.”

“I try ta be enthusiastic about my job,” a smirk crossed his lips for a moment before he shook his head, “Anyway. What’re you still doin’ on campus?”

He shrugged, “Oh, nothing. Merlin said he needed to speak to me about something, but he wasn’t free until his lab students were finished. Which reminds me,” he took a breath, knowing he had to bite the bullet on this one for the time being because it was the right thing to do, “Merlin had told me that his new Teaching Assistant is new here, to campus and to town, and doesn’t really know anyone. You’re one of the few people around here that’s a bit more on her end of the age spectrum, so he was wondering if you’d be willing to show her around town perhaps, help her get settled in.”

Eggsy smiled, “Sure, bruv. I know what it’s like ta be the new kid. I’ll give ‘er a few pointers.

Harry nodded, “That’d be good. Just, you know, introduce her to some new people, help her feel like she’s not a stranger.”

“Gotcha. I could do that. Never gonna find me sayin’ no to takin’ a pretty girl out on the town for a bit,” he laughed. His phone beeped and when he looked at the time he couldn’t help but to sigh, “’Cept if they wanted to tanight. I gotta get home an’ get some sleep.”

Harry chuckled, “Long day, Professor Unwin?”

He laughed, “Long _few_ days, Dr. Hart,” he stood up and slowly started to pack up his things, “It’ll be aight once I’m done grading though.”

As the two of them made their way out of the building, they each found themselves a bit too nervous to try to say much of anything. It was different when there was the hustle and bustle of campus during the day, with students and other professors popping up everywhere. But when it was just the two of them and no distractions everything felt different. Eggsy found he couldn’t stop fidgeting with his hands, and Harry suddenly found the sidewalk so interesting that he couldn’t quite take his eyes off of it for too long.

When they reached the parking lot, they noticed that their cars were some of the only ones left in the faculty lot. Eggsy sighed, wishing he had something better to say than goodbye but unfortunately that was what he was going to have to settle for, for the time being.

“I’ll see you in a bit, yea?” he gave a small smile.

Harry nodded, “You will. And I’ll get you more details about possible courses you might be interested in for next semester.”

He smiled, “Sounds great, bruv, thanks.”

“Have a good night, Gary.”

“You too,” he turned on his heel and made his way towards his car, the true level of his exhaustion hitting him like a freight train as he sat down behind the wheel. He knew the second he got home he’d fall asleep. It’d be a nice change of pace.

*

Harry heard a familiar voice over the dull noise filling the café. He did a quick scan before he found Eggsy standing at the counter, flashing a charming smile at the barista.  
“Same as usual, yea?”

She laughed as she scribbled his order down on the cup, “We ought to name this after you. I don't think I've ever had someone consistently order something this strong when it's not finals week.”

He smirked, “You wouldn’ mind plastering ‘ _The Gary Unwin_ ’ on your board up there?”

“Not at all,” she smiled as she whirled around and went off to make his drink.

Harry smiled; it was damn near impossible for anyone to resist the young man’s charm. He knew it, too. There was no way he could be oblivious to how the young girls would smile and blush when he’d smirk and toss a wink their way.

“Seems like you’ve made some friends around here,” Harry said in a warm tone as Eggsy walked by him to put a little more cream in his coffee.

He whipped around, eyes wide and bright with anticipation. He glanced down slightly and saw Harry sitting at the table right in front of him, “’Arry! Bruv, I didn’t even see you there,” he laughed as he sat down across from him, “Sorry ‘bout that. Wasn’ trying ta ignore you.”

“I didn’t think you were,” he took a sip of his tea, “Do you have anything going on right now?”

He shook his head, “Not really, no. My classes are done for the day. Only good part of teachin’ morning classes, yea?”

Harry smiled, “Well, if you’re not in too much of a hurry, I have more details about the courses you have available to you next semester.”

His lips curled into a smile, “Got all the time in the world for you, bruv,” if he didn’t know any better, he’d say he saw Dr. Harry Hart, for just a moment, blush? He pushed the thought from his mind as he began explaining what the following semester might be looking like.

By the time their conversation was drawing to a close, Eggsy had a notebook out and had noted a few of the courses that Harry had mentioned, ones that really piqued his interest. They were topics he was willing to look more into in order to actually teach an entire course on the stuff.

“’Course, I’ll teach any of ‘em. Las’ thing I wanna do is ruffle more feathers.”

“Ah, that’s not what you should be worried about, lad,” Merlin’s voice piped in. He took a sip of his coffee, “Professors like you ensure that Harry’s actually working for a living.”

He sighed, “Ah, Merlin, the wind beneath my wings. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

He chuckled, “Pleasure’s all mine, lads. Just showing my TA a few spots around campus.”

“She here?” Eggsy spoke up.

He nodded, “Now would be a good time to introduce you two, wouldn’t it?” Merlin laughed as he waved the girl over. “Roxanne, this is Gary.”

She shook his hand, “Call me Roxy.”

“Professor Unwin works in the English Department.”

She laughed, “I won’t hold that against him,” she winked playfully.

Eggsy chuckled, “And I won’ judge you too much fer bein’ a lab rat.”

“Sounds fair,” she nodded, smiling.

“I hear you’ve taken my spot as newest kid on the block?”

She nodded, “That’s what I’ve heard as well, so it must be true.”

“You free righ’ now?” he shut his notebook, “Or is Merlin gonna lock ya back up in the lab?”

Her laughter was contagious, “Some of us have to work for our money, Gary. I’ve got a long day ahead of me.”

He chuckled, “Aight, I set myself up fer that. But in my defense I was gonna try an’ be nice.”

“Oh were you?”

Merlin cut in, “I asked Gary if he’d be comfortable showing you around and help you get used to things around here.”

Recognition flashed across her face, “Oh! _This_ is him!" it was one of the only times that statement had ever been said with such positivity, "I remember that conversation now,” she nudged Merlin’s arm, “You didn’t tell me he was cute.”

He rolled his eyes, “Sorry to leave out that integral detail.”

She laughed as she pulled out her phone, “Well, we’ve got to get back to the lab. But what’s your number? I’ll let you know when I’m free. I’d really love to feel like I know where I’m going and not like I’m a chicken with its head cut off.”

Eggsy typed his number into her phone, “Text me anytime, Roxy. Can’t promise I’ll be awake,” he laughed, “But I’ll always get back to you eventually.”

She smirked, “I appreciate the honesty.”

“I’ll see you ‘round, yea?”

“When Merlin _releases_ me,” her sarcasm was palpable. She and Merlin said their goodbye’s and made their way back out of the café.

“Are you always that at ease with new people?” Harry was intrigued. Part of it was admiration of the fact that Eggsy was able to talk to the girl like he’d known her for ages, but there was also a flicker of jealousy, of wanting to know if there was an ulterior motive to his apparent comfort.

“Eh,” he shrugged, “I’m comfortable if the other person is. I’m not always the best with people,” he gave a nervous smile, “I kinda feed off their vibes, ta be honest.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed that. You always seem perfectly calm around me.”

His face flushed pink, and he fought to make a comment about how shocking that was to him since he was always so nervous about doing something stupid that would hurt his current standing with Harry.

Before anything more could be said, Harry’s phone went off. He glanced down at the screen and sighed, “I’m so sorry, Gary, but I think this is my cue…”

He smiled, “No problem, bruv. Thanks fer ev'rything taday. Have a good one.”

Harry rose up out of his seat, “You too,” he smiled and rested his hand on Eggsy’s shoulder for a moment before turning and answering his phone as he walked out onto the sidewalk.

Eggsy sat there, absently stirring his coffee as he tried to process all that had just happened. That light feeling in his head would go away soon enough. This was just a little bit of an infatuation phase, or at least that’s what he told himself. It’d be over and he’d look back and laugh at his own antics.

But as he watched Harry stroll down the sidewalk, phone pinned between his ear and his shoulder as he pulled his gloves on, he grew a little doubtful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all honesty I hadn't given too much thought to Roxy having a role in this story, but after it was mentioned I couldn't _not_ have her in this. ^.^


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer than the others, and to be completely honest I'm a bit nervous about how it turned ot. So go easy on me haha. xox

Roxy and Eggsy shared a table at the café. It was the first time they’d been able to talk in person since they met. She sipped on her tea as she listened to Eggsy talk about some of his favorite places off-campus. He was explaining to her that there were plenty of cool spots in town, but she had to be prepared to possibly run into students while being out and about.

“That prospect bothers a lotta professors,” he said with a shrug, “Personally I don’ really care. My students like me, if they catch me out with the boys a little bit drunk it ain’t the end of the world.”

Roxy laughed and shook her head, “You’re quite something, Gary. So you’re telling me that if I let you parade me around town, all the students that I work with are going to see me?”

He rolled his eyes, “Aight, not _all_ of your students. ‘S not like they travel in packs huntin’ us down, yea?” he chuckled at the mental image he created.

She smiled, “Thank you for that,” she glanced down at her phone and sighed, “I’ve gotta head back to the dark side of campus.”

“Best of luck,” he winked, trying and failing to stifle his laughter.

She draped her scarf around her neck and slipped into her jacket, “I’ll see you Friday night then?”

He nodded, “’Course! Pick you up at seven?”

She beamed, “Sounds like a plan. See you then.”

“Later, Rox,” he smirked a bit.

She shuffled out the door and Eggsy grinned to himself as he drank his own cup of tea, which tasted odd after drinking nothing but coffee for the longest time. He was glad to have someone else on campus who was in the same boat as he was, for the most part anyway. She seemed to be having an easier time with the other professors in her department, thankfully. Perhaps it was because she was a TA. But either way, it was nice to have someone to relate to a bit more, who was in the same spot in their life as he was.

He finished off his tea and headed back towards his office. He still had lecture notes to write up for the rest of the week, and he wanted to get that done with sooner rather than later. He tucked his hands into his pockets and quickly crossed campus to his department building. Being on the top floor where all the heat got stuck didn’t seem like such an annoyance anymore.

He sat down in his chair and put his glasses on, taking a deep breath before cracking open their newest novel and picking out points he really wanted to touch upon. He felt like there was always so much to talk about, and part of him wished that he could just pick one novel to spend a whole semester on. But he didn’t want to drive his students insane, and that surely would do the trick.

Half the page was filled with Eggsy’s fine handwriting when the phone on his desk started to ring. He hardly ever got office calls, so he had no idea what this could be about. He took a deep breath and answered, “Gary Unwin’s office.”

“You sound so professional.”

He laughed, “Ay, ‘Arry. Everythin’ alright?”

“Yes, yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know that as it stands right now, you’ll be taking on two more courses next semester, each with one section of class.”

He grinned from ear to ear, “That’s great, bruv! Thank you so much.”

Harry chuckled, hearing the smile in the young man’s voice, “No need to thank me for anything, Gary. You’ve earned it.”

He smiled, blushing slightly and thanking the heavens that Harry wasn’t there to see it, “Well, still, thanks,” he doodled absently in the margins of his notes, “I really ‘preciate all’a this. Not just the course stuff, either,” he paused, a bit embarrassed to say it, “The other professors ‘ave been layin’ offa me a bit. Fig’red that was mostly your doing.”

He sighed, “Perhaps they’re finally learning to change with the times.”

“We c’n hope, yea?”

Harry have a halfhearted laugh, “That we can.”

“I’m actually workin’ on some stuff for my class right now, an’ I gotta finish it up. So I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course, of course. Sorry to interrupt.”

“No need to apologize, ‘Arry. Always nice ta hear from you.”

He smiled to himself, “I’ll see you again soon, I’m sure.”

“Pretty safe bet, bruv,” he chuckled, “’Ave a good one, Harry.”

“You too,” he took a small breath before hanging up the phone. It wasn’t the time to address anything more, and it certainly wasn’t something he wanted to do over the phone. He stared at it sitting on the receiver for a few moments before forcing his attention to something else. He knew that constantly thinking about it and then proceeding to do nothing about the thoughts was useless.

*

Friday night came quicker than Eggsy had thought that it would. He didn’t have anything extravagant planned; that wasn’t really his style anyway. He was going to take Roxy to one of his favorite restaurants for dinner, stroll up and down the streets with the best shops, and then maybe meet up with the guys at the pub for a drink if she felt up to it. It was like a date only with no pressure to try and impress the girl he was going with. There was a first time for everything.

He knocked on the door to her flat, suddenly feeling a little jittery despite knowing there was no need to. A few moments later she opened the door, beaming at him. “Right on time!” she grinned, “Come in, please,” she shut the door behind him, “Is this alright for where we’re going?” she gestured to her outfit.

Eggsy chuckled, “You look great, Roxy. We’re not doin’ anythin’ fancy. Hope that don’t put you out too much.”

She laughed, “Are you kidding? That’s music to my ears,” she grabbed her jacket and opened the door, motioning for Eggsy to step out first, “Lead the way!”

They got to the restaurant and the hostess knew Eggsy from a long time ago; they’d grown up on the same street and she was half the reason he started coming here, just to give her a familiar face during her shifts until she got comfortable. She had greeted him when he walked in using his nickname.

“Still don’t read _Gary_ and think of you,” she laughed as she lead the two of them to their table, “A waiter will be with you in a moment.”

He smiled, “Thanks, Doll.”

Roxy was trying to take in everything around her. The place was like a sports pub, only a bit higher end than that. It was comfortable, though, and Eggsy hadn’t been lying when he said it wasn’t anywhere overly fancy. The place felt homey.

“Do I get to ask about the nickname?” Roxy smirked at him when the waiter brought them their drinks.

He laughed and took a sip of his beer, “No, no you don’t.”

“Oh, c’mon, that’s _got_ to be a good story.”

He smiled at her, “Oh it is. And you might hear it one day if you get me good an’ drunk. But until then,” he shook his head, “No can do.”

All throughout dinner he asked Roxy about herself. Where she moved from, what her family was like, why she wanted to become a professor, the whole nine yards. She seemed happy that someone was taking a genuine interest in her answers to the questions. The professors that she worked with would all try to make small talk, but everyone with the exception of Merlin always seemed to keep a minimal level of interest with everyone else. It was annoying but she knew it wasn’t personal. However having Eggsy’s green eyes brighten every time she began another story was quite the pleasant experience.

The waiter brought over the check and when Roxy reached for her purse Eggsy shook his head and snatched the bill off of the table, “Don’ even _think_ about it, Rox.”

“Oh, come on, Gary, at least let me pay for my share.”

“No, this whole night out thing was my idea. If you wanna buy anything fer yourself when we hit the streets that’s all you. But I’ll pay fer dinner.”

She smiled, silently stowing her purse back by her side, “I appreciate that. Thank you.”

“’Course,” he flashed her a smile.

Once they had explored enough of the town for one night, he asked her if she was up to meeting up with a few of his friends at a pub in town. She smiled and shrugged, “Why not? Could do with meeting some people outside the university.”

They walked into the Black Prince and Eggsy saw his two best friends sitting at their usual table. They waved him over, both raising their eyebrows curiously in Roxy’s direction. They stood up when the two of them got to the table for introductions.

“Roxy,” Eggsy smiled, “This is Ryan, and this is Jamal,” he turned to the boys, “Ryan, Jamal, this is Roxy. She works at the university, too.”

The four of them sat down and Eggsy ordered Roxy and himself a drink. Right off the bat, the boys started poking fun.

“So, Roxy,” Jamal chuckled, “what bet did you lose that resulted in you hangin’ out with Eggsy?”

She laughed and shook her head, “There was no _bet_ ,” she smirked, “It was a _dare_.”

Jamal nodded in approval, “Fair ‘nough, ‘cuz.”

Eggsy rolled his eyes dramatically and took a sip of his beer, “Yea, yea, laugh it up. Knew I shouldn’t’a brought ‘er here with you two.”

“Ay,” Ryan spoke up, “I didn’t say nothin’.”

Eggsy smirked, “Give it time, bruv.”

The four of them sat there for a bit, chit-chatting amongst themselves. Roxy asked about how they all knew each other, and the boys asked her about her life here now and how she liked the town. She was a little anxious, a bit overwhelmed from all the new things that night, but regardless she felt relatively at ease. 

It was nice to have the fourth chair at the table filled. That thought was running through all the boys’ heads. The three of them all got along great and had such a strong friendship, but at the same time it was kind of nice to have someone new in the mix. Roxy seemed down to earth enough for them, and they liked that.

“Aight,” Eggsy stretched and looked over at Roxy, “you wanna head out?”

She laughed, “You getting tired, old man?”

He shook his head, “Some of us ‘avta work fer a living.”

She slapped his arm, “Oh shut it,” she laughed, “But in all honesty, I am starting to feel a bit wiped. It’s been an eventful day.”

They all stood up and started saying their goodbyes, and see you later’s. Roxy gave each other two boys a hug, “It was nice meeting you.”

“Same to you,” they said back with smiles on their faces. They each gave Eggsy a fist bump and a hug, promising to see each other around sometime soon, although none of them knew when “soon” would be.

As the two of them walked out to Eggsy’s car, he had to ask, “What’d ya think?”

“Of your friends?”

He chuckled “Yea, them too.”

She smiled and nodded, “They seem like fun, Gary. They seem nice.”

He nodded, “They’re pretty cool,” he opened the car door for her.

They arrived just outside her building. Eggsy turned the car off and walked her to the main entrance. He smiled, “Hope ya had fun tanight, Rox.”

She grinned and nodded, “I had a blast, Gary. Thank you so much for all of this.”

He laughed and shook his head, “You don’ gotta thank me for anythin’. I’m glad ya had a good time.”

She stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug, “You’re the best,” she kissed him on the cheek, “I’ll see you Monday.”

“Uh, wait, Roxy,” he nervously ran his hand through his hair, “I don’ wanna give the wrong impression or anythin’,” he looked down at the ground, “This wasn’t a…a date or nothin’…”

She laughed and shook her head, “I know, Gary. No need to worry.”

He gave an audible sigh of relief, “Oh, aight. I’m, I’m sorry. I jus’ didn’t want things to get weird or whatever.”

She rested her hand on his arm, “You’re a good guy, Gary. Not quite my type,” she laughed, “but a good guy nonetheless.”

Confusion flashed across his face, and he was about to ask when it all clicked inside his head, “ _Ohh_. Gotcha.”

She smiled and winked, “I’ll see you Monday.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “See ya, Roxy.”

He waited for a few moments to make sure she got inside okay before heading back to his car and driving home. He shook his head at his own ignorance and assumptions about the girl. He of all people should know better than to just _assume_ things of people. But now he knew. He nodded silently to himself, tucking that piece of information away with the other things he’d learned about her that evening.

He hadn’t had that much fun out with someone in a long time. He also hadn’t just _been out_ with someone in a long time. Even though it wasn’t a real date, the aesthetic of the entire thing felt nice. After enough failed commitments with the guys and girls he’d previously been with, he’d taken a break from the dating thing altogether. At the time, he had enough other things to worry about between finishing school, looking for a job, and trying to deal with his family situation. But as he drove home, mulling over his faux-date with Roxy, he couldn’t help but to think that maybe it was time to give it another go.

*

Monday morning rolled around and Eggsy found himself standing in line at the café, waiting patiently for everyone in front of him to order their drinks so he could get his own. He was sorting through emails on his phone when he heard Harry’s voice coming from right behind him.

“Fancy seeing you here,” his voice was quiet against the bustle of the coffee house.

Eggsy turned around, smiling when he realized who was talking to him, “Hey, Doc, how was yer weekend?”

He nodded, “It was fine. I spent the majority of it grading essays, but there’s worse things I could’ve done for two days,” he chuckled, “How was your weekend, Gary?”

“Great, act’ally. Showed Roxy around a bit on Friday, and sort of just caught up on rest for the rest of the weekend,” he laughed, “Almost forgot what it’s like to get a good night’s sleep.”

Harry smiled, “Not a luxury until it’s gone?”

Eggsy laughed and nodded, “Exactly.” The boy behind the counter said next and Eggsy realized that it was him. He stepped forward, smiling as he placed his order. He nodded back towards Harry as he handed the cashier his card, “And whatever ‘e’s having.”

“Gary, really, that’s alright.”

He shook his head, “It’s not a problem, bruv. ‘Appy Monday, yea?”

Harry smiled at Eggsy for a moment before placing his order. Once the young man went off to make their drinks Harry nodded towards Eggsy, “Thank you.”

He smirked and shrugged, “Always figure it’s nice ta start the week out on a good note."

“I can’t argue with that,” Harry said as the boy behind the counter handed them their drinks. The thought crossed his mind that his week started fine enough simply because he saw Eggsy in the first place.

The two of them walked out of the café together, and when they reached the Lecture Center, they had to go off in their own separate directions. Harry smiled and cupped his tea in his hands, “It was a pleasant surprise running into you this morning, Gary.”

He smirked, “Could say the same ta you, bruv. I’ll see you soon at some point I’m sure.”

Harry nodded, “Have a good class.”

“You too, ‘Arry. I’ll see ya.” He watched Harry wander off to wherever his own class was going to be taught. Eggsy sighed and lingered for just a moment more before shuffling into the lecture hall. He set his notes up on the podium and started copying them onto the board with one hand while holding his drink in the other, smiling and being thankful that little miracles like those run-ins with Harry happened. It kept him content enough to the point where he wouldn’t do anything ridiculous. That’s all he needed until the feelings went away, or at least, that’s what he repeatedly told himself.

On Friday, Eggsy got to campus earlier than usual. He headed straight for his office since there would still be another class in the lecture hall he needed to use. He was pulling out his office key when he saw an envelope sticking out of the mailbox attached to his door. He’d only ever gotten real mail once or twice in his entire time teaching at the university, normally everything was done over email. He plucked it out and tucked it under his chin as he messed with the lock on his door.

He tossed his bag and the envelope onto his desk before shrugging off his jacket and taking off his hat. If any of the other professors in his department saw him meandering around campus in a flatbrim he knew he’d probably never hear the end of how “unprofessional” he looked. He almost didn’t care, though.

He pulled out his laptop and tossed his backpack under his desk before reaching forward and really looking at the envelope for the first time. There was no address of any kind on it, just his name written in the center of it in large, calligraphy-like lettering. It was sealed at the center and he gently opened the letter, getting more and more curious by the second.

He carefully unfolded the sheet of paper inside and smoothed it out on the surface of his desk,

_“Gary,_

_I’ve been trying to figure out a way to say this, or if I should even say it at all. But it has gotten to the point where if I don’t tell you purposefully, I will tell you accidentally and that is something I definitely do not want…”_

Eggsy’s heart was pounding in his chest. There was the burning feeling in the back of his head that he got whenever he was nervous, whenever he felt as though he was about to be told he’d done something wrong. Still, he forced himself to keep reading.

_“It would be a lie to say that I haven’t grown quite fond of you over these past weeks. I find myself looking forward to running into you on campus, whatever spot it may be, and being sincerely disappointed when it doesn’t happen. Hearing your voice puts me more at ease than anything else I’ve ever experienced. In the midst of all the chaos here you seem to be a wave of calm that washes over my day._

_I’m going to ramble on a little longer at the risk of sounding ridiculous because I feel that these are things that you need to know, things that_ I _need you to know…”_

He had to stop and take a breath. This wasn’t at all what he had been expecting. And there was still more. He felt like his brain was about to explode inside his skull. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back in his seat for a moment, trying to digest all that he’d just read.

_“I don’t think that I’ve ever been so instantly taken with someone as I was with you. What I wrote off as curiosity has transformed into something much more weighted, a type of compassion, if you will. From the start I admired your drive and defiance, your unapologetic desire to be no one but yourself; I found it so intriguing, like a breath of fresh air in a place like this where people tend to concede so easily. I pray you never lose that. You can warm up a room with a few words and a smile, and I can’t help but to be infatuated._

_Even when I see you in your disheveled exhaustion I can’t help but to smile. Because even when you’ve lost your tie and glasses, and given up on trying to keep your hair in place, there’s no mistaking the passion that you have. It’s always there in your eyes, and it’s beautiful. It’s something that, now that I’ve experienced it, I never want to lose._

_I’ve fallen for more than just your looks, Gary, and I hope you know that. This isn’t something that’s purely aesthetic. And I say these things with all the care and respect this world can muster._

_I’d love to take you to dinner, sometime, maybe see where this could all lead us. That’s partly the reason I am telling you all of this. Seeing you here is absolutely lovely, but I would very much like to get to know_ you _and not just ‘Professor Unwin’._

_Take your time with this. I know it’s a lot. I do hope to hear back from you._

_Yours Truly,  
Harry Hart”_

Eggsy felt like he was going to pass out. He needed to go outside and get some fresh air. He grabbed his coat and all but flew out of the office and down the stairs. He leaned against the side of the building and dug through his coat pockets for a cigarette and a lighter. He didn’t smoke often, only when he was stressed. But he needed something to calm his nerves. Too much caffeine and not enough rest piling on top of everything swirling around his head left him in a bit of a state.

He took a long drag and shut his eyes for a few moments, trying to keep himself weighted in reality. He was halfway convinced that in a few moments he was going to wake up to his alarm going off and discover that this was all a dream. But the minutes ticked by and he was still there; this was his reality now.  
And he had no idea what to do with any of it.

He checked his watch and he knew that he didn’t have any more time to waste pondering over what he should do or say, or if he should say anything at all. He shook his head and snubbed out what was left of his cigarette before heading back to his office to quickly grab his things and head to class.

He had never been so distracted during a lecture. He had his notes right in front of him but still found himself losing track and tripping over his own words, only being able to really think about the letter that was burning a hole in his bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it! Sort of know where I want to go from here, sorta still up in the air haha. As always, I take ideas and stuff. ^.^


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been posting. These past two weeks have been Hell and this past week was finals so writing unfortunately wasn't at the top of my priority list. But! I'm on break now which means I have plenty of time for fics. ^.^

Once his classes were done, Eggsy left and immediately went to his office, shutting his door and briefly contemplating the possibility of locking it. He just needed time to process this. It wasn’t what he had been expecting to come in to that day, or any day for that matter. He never in a million years thought that Harry would ever think of him as anything more than a colleague. Perhaps an acquaintance at best, since they did get along well. But this? This was more than he prepared himself to handle.

He took the letter out of his bag and laid it back on his desk. He read it a few times over and still didn’t know how he wanted to react to it. Obviously, there was the immediate reaction of shock and joy, because the fact that Harry Hart felt this way of someone like him was beyond comprehensible thought. But what was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? Sure, he adored Harry, but he didn’t want to ruin whatever he had going at the university if this didn’t work out.

Yet he didn’t really know what _this_ was. He hadn’t really begun to think out a response. His instinct told him to write back and agree to dinner and pretty much whatever else Harry could ever conjure up because Eggsy was as good as putty in the man’s hands now if he wasn’t before. But he didn’t want to sound desperate. He’d been keeping a lid on his thoughts and feelings and the last thing that he wanted was for it to all come out and make him look like a fool.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cared this much about how a situation would turn out. He had a pretty carefree attitude about relationships and it had served him well, but he had no idea how to handle the fact that he was already so invested in a relationship that wasn’t even in existence yet. He could feel himself slipping with every thought that raced through his head.

He pulled a sheet of paper out of the bottom drawer of his desk and stared at it for a few moments. He knew what he wanted to say but he had no idea how to say it. This was way above his paygrade.

Fifteen minutes later and he had Harry’s name at the top. That was it. He couldn’t force himself to try and start saying what he wanted to say. He groaned in frustration and crumpled up the sheet, tossing it into the waste basket next to his desk. He leaned back in his chair and pulled his glasses off, practically flinging them onto his desk.

He rested his hands over his face and let out a groan that probably would’ve been concerning to those in the offices around him if the majority of them hadn’t already gone home for the weekend.

There was a knock on his door and immediately his first thought was that it was Harry. What was he going to say? How would he even be able to force himself to say anything? He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Come in,” he forced out.

The door opened and Roxy’s head peaked around the corner. She smiled, “Thought I might’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere until I heard your call of distress.”

Eggsy couldn’t help but to laugh, “Sorry you hadda hear that.”

She laughed and shrugged, “Doesn’t bother me. Certainly sounds like you’ve got something on your mind, though.”

He shook his head, “Nothin’ that anyone can help me with.”

She looked at him, curiosity and concern both in her eyes, “You alright?”

He nodded, “Yea, I’m fine. Just some, uh, pers’nal stuff.”

She nodded hesitantly, “Alright…”

“Everythin’ okay with you, though?”

Her expression immediately brightened, “Yea! I’m great. Got out a bit earlier than I expected to, so I was wondering if you wanted to go grab coffee on your way out?”

If anything, he could use the mental break from thinking incessantly about his response to Harry’s letter. Respite might do him some good. He nodded, “Sounds like a good idea ta me.”

“Great! You busy now or…?”

He shook his head, “Nah, I was just wrappin’ up here anyway. I just gotta pack.”

She plopped down in one of the chairs in his office, “Cozy little place you have here.”

He laughed, “I mean,” he shrugged, “serves its purpose, yea? Been here a bit but I still haven’t put all that much up. Not at the top of my list of priorities I guess.”

She shook her head, “That would be my favorite thing about having my own office. I’d love to decorate it.”

He smiled at her as he put a few books into his bag, “You c’n come and decorate mine if ya want. I’ll prob’ly never get around to it.”

She reached forward towards his desk and pointed to the picture frames, “May I?”

He nodded, “’Course.”

She gently picked it up and smiled at the photo in it. It was one of Eggsy with Daisy on his shoulders. He was looking up at her and smiling, and she was looking down at him with the biggest grin on her face. It was something they probably couldn’t have posed even if they had tried.

“She a sister, cousin, niece?” Roxy couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“Daughter,” Eggsy responded without hesitation.

Her jaw dropped, “Really?”

He laughed, “ _No_. I’m just kiddin’. She’s my number one. My baby sis.”

Roxy couldn’t help but to laugh, “You caught me off-guard, I’ll give you that.”

“You don’ think I woulda mentioned ‘avin’ a kid?”

She shrugged, “It’s not _really_ my business, so you might not have.”

He shook his head, “No kids or anythin’. Just my little Dais for now.”

“How you don’t have that cute face plastered all over your walls is beyond me.”

He laughed, “She is pretty adorable.”

“Yea, I should’ve known she wasn’t your daughter.”

He put his hand over his heart, an exaggerated pained expression on his face, “Ow, Rox. Brutal,” he couldn’t keep up the act any longer and he broke out into a smile, “But yer right. She’s cute as all Hell.”

He looked down at the letter on his desk for a moment and sighed, his expression faltering for a moment before he folded it up and put it back in its envelope, tucking it into his bag to be forgotten about at least for a little while. He felt the slightest bit of a weight lift off his shoulders as he zipped the bag shut. He turned to Roxy, “Ready?”

“As long as you are.”

He nodded, “Le’s go, then.” As the two of them walked across campus, Eggsy turned and looked at her, “You want coffee? ‘Cos I mean, it _is_ Friday.”

She gave a warm smile, “You in the mood for something a bit stronger, Gary?”

“I wouldn’ say _no_ …”

She laughed, “Alright, alright. You’ve _convinced_ me. You want to go to that place you showed me last week?”

“You read my mind.”

The two of them snagged a booth and sat talking about their week. Things were always much more eventful on the science side of campus, especially since Roxy worked in the labs. There was always something going wrong, which was frustrating but made for great stories to tell after the fact.

“Rox, c’n I ask you somethin’?” Eggsy swirled what little was left of his beer around in the bottom of his glass.

She nodded, “Of course.”

“Would you ever date someone you work with?”

She smirked, “Just last week you were telling me that you didn’t want to give me the wrong impression, but now…”

He laughed and shook his head, “No, no. I mean, just in general. Would you?”

She shrugged, “As a general rule, no. But I can only say that now because I haven’t met anyone that I’m interested in. I’m sure if I bumped into the right person I’d rethink that a bit. Suppose it depends on whether or not you think it’ll work out,” she paused, arching an eyebrow, “Why? Someone caught your eye?”

Eggsy chuckled, his eyes still glued to his mug, “Somethin’ like that.”

Her face brightened, “Can I guess? I _love_ this game.”

He rolled his eyes, “It’s nothin’. I’m just tryna weigh my options.”

“My advice? If you like them, and you have an inkling of an idea as to whether they like you or not, it’s worth it to at least talk about it. Figure out what you’re each looking for.”

“Yea?”

She nodded, “Definitely. That’s at least better than leaving it hanging in the air over the both of you. Talking about it doesn’t mean that something definitely will or won’t happen. It just means you’ll _talk_. We’re all adults now, it’s allowed.”

He laughed and nodded, “I guess yer right.”

She smiled, “Of course I am! I’m a girl, don’t you know I’m _always_ right about this stuff?” she winked and broke out into laughter.

He chuckled, “Alright, let’s not get carried away.”

“But,” she took a deep breath, “my opinions aside, are you normally one to date people that you work with?”

He shrugged, “Dunno. Was never put in the position I guess. I mean, in my ‘ead I’ve always said I wouldn’t. But that’s ‘cos I know myself.”

She arched an eyebrow, “You have my attention, Gary. Please explain.”

He couldn’t help but to chuckle at her expression, “I jus’ mean I ain’t the best with relationships. Commitment has never really worked out for me, ya get me? And that’s not something that goes well with dating someone you work with.”

“You’re not wrong about that I guess,” she paused, “Who is it?”

He laughed, shaking his head, “No, no. We’re not doin’ this.”

She smiled, “Oh come on, Gary. Give me some news so I finally have some good gossip for Merlin.”

He laughed, raising his eyebrows in interest, “Really? You gossip with _Merlin_?”

She burst into laughter, “Are you kidding me? That man has all the dirt on everyone. It’s ridiculous. I know things about people I’ve never even seen or interacted with before. I love it.”

He could only just laugh and shake his head. It was surprising, but then again Merlin did seem like the kind of man who just knew everything even if he never offered up an explanation as to how he knew it. There was a wizard joke to be made, but Eggsy couldn’t come up with it quick enough.

“Well I’m tryna stay on his good side, Rox. The last thing I need is ‘im knowing about stuff like this.”

She rolled her eyes, “Well you’re just no fun.”

He smiled, shaking his head, “Somethin’ tells me you’ll learn ta get over this.”

She dramatically fell back against the booth, clutching her heart, “I, I don’t know if I can go on.”

Eggsy laughed, not able to even try and keep a straight face, “Ay, if Merlin’s as good a detective as you say, he’ll prob’ly know in no time. Ya at least got that ta look forward to.”  
She sat upright again, “I suppose. You haven’t heard the end of this, you know.”

He smiled and shook his head but didn’t say anything. He knew better than anyone that he hadn’t heard the end of this. Whatever this was, it was very far from ending.

*

Eggsy was sitting cross-legged on the couch in his flat that night, already changed into his pajamas, with a notepad in his lap, TV playing quietly in the background for the sake of having white noise so he didn’t go insane. He tapped his pen on the edge of the paper, knowing that if anything he should at least start writing something down, and maybe as he went along he’d come up with something a little more well put-together that didn’t sound like it was written when he was exhausted with alcohol running through his system.

He set his pen down and ran his hands through his hair, “Fuck me,” he whispered to himself as he stared up at the ceiling.

After a few more minutes of starting at a blank sheet of paper, he took a deep breath and just started writing. He had no idea what he was saying or where he was going with it, but dammit there were words on the paper and that was as good of a start as any. Every couple of sentences he’d stop and go back over what he’d already written. He knew that that was one of the worst things he could do, but he couldn’t help himself.

He mulled over it for a while, frustrated that it wasn’t sounding the way he wanted it to. He thought back to Harry’s letter and how easily it all just flowed and how perfect it all sounded. For a fleeting moment he considered that his opinion on the matter might be a bit biased. But still, there was no way that he could try and match that. He couldn’t be like Harry.

But maybe that was the whole point.

He’d long since accepted the fact that he wasn’t like all of the people that he was surrounded by every day. That was more for survival and his own sanity than anything else. He accepted it but he didn’t _like_ it necessarily. He just didn’t know how to be anything other than what he’d always been. He’d seen it as more of a hindrance or a weakness until he read Harry’s letter. Funny how one man’s opinion of him could so easily start to make him reevaluate his opinion of himself. But it was hard to not rethink things when Harry just made him sound so damn great.

“This shouldn’t be so difficult,” Eggsy mumbled to himself as he scribbled away, “just gotta say what I think…”

After what felt like centuries, he finished the letter. He reread it enough to know there weren’t any spelling errors (after all, they are English professors) but nothing more than that or otherwise he would start to hate himself all over again. He dug around his desk for an envelope, and tucked the thing away until he’d need it again. Out of sight, but certainly not out of mind.

*

Monday morning rolled around and Eggsy had to force himself out of bed. He pulled on a white t-shirt and slid a sport coat over it before changing out of his flannel pants and into a pair of dark jeans. There were some mornings when he was getting ready when he contemplated going out and investing in a suit jacket with matching trousers, just to have and look a little more professional, but then he’d have to buy dress shoes as well and that was just a painful thought. He loved all of his Adidas sneakers (even the ones without wings) and they wouldn’t go with any suit that he’d buy no matter how hard he wished them to. So he kept his limited but familiar and comfy wardrobe just the way it was.

He swiped up his glasses and the letter on the way out the door. He walked out to his car, frowning at how cold things were getting. He’d never been a huge fan of the cold, and now that he walked all over campus for his job, he disliked it even more.

When he got to campus, he headed straight to the English Department Building. It seemed like he was the only one there. And he probably was, besides perhaps a custodian or two. He quickly walked down the hall and landed right outside Harry’s office. He looked down at the envelope in his hands and sighed, trying to pretend he didn’t feel sick from anxiety. He shut his eyes and dropped the letter in the mailbox before turning on his heel and walking as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

That was done. All he had to do now was wait, which was arguably the worst part.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry was pulling off his gloves when he arrived at the door to his office. He glanced at the mailbox out of habit, not that there was ever anything in it. He did a double-take when he saw a lone envelope sticking out of the top. He tucked his gloves into his pockets and picked it up, his heart stopping for a moment when he saw the unmistakably flawless script on the front.

He walked into his office, hanging up his coat before sitting down at his desk. He sighed as he turned the envelope over in his hands a few times. He carefully opened it, not really sure what he was expecting to find inside. Getting a response at all was a step in the right direction though, or at least he had to assume it was.

He unfolded the letter, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath before starting to read what was in front of him,

_“Harry,  
I’ve rewritten this about a million times, trying to find just the right things to say. I still don’t think I’ve-”_

There was a knock at the door, and it took all of Harry’s restraint to not snap at whoever happened to be there. He took a breath, tucking the letter underneath one of the books on his desk. “Come in.”

“Dr. Hart?” one of his students poked their head inside his office, “Can I talk to you about something?”

He nodded, motioning for the young lady to come and sit down, “Is everything alright?”

She smiled nervously, but nodded, “Yes, I just wanted to talk to you about my last essay that I submitted. The one from last week?”

“Ah, yes, the analysis. What do you want to talk about?”

He was only able to half-listen to what the girl was saying to him. He listened enough to answer her questions and give her pointers on how to go about these papers better in the future, but it wasn’t nearly as in-depth as it would’ve been on any other day. He could practically feel the letter from Eggsy staring at him underneath the book, begging to be read.

The girl got up to leave, “Thank you so much, Dr. Hart. Sorry to stop in on such short notice like this.”

He smiled, shaking his head, “Nonsense. As long as I’m here you can stop in any time.”

“See you in a bit,” she smiled and headed back towards the door.

Once it shut behind her, Harry all but tore the letter back out to read. He felt his stomach tighten into knots.

_“Harry,_

_I’ve rewritten this about a million times, trying to find just the right things to say. I still don’t think I’ve quite gotten it, but hopefully this will do._

_I like you, which probably sounds like a fairly obvious statement at this point. But you’re one of the few people that I constantly wish I could spend more quality time with. I haven’t had the courage to ask you, though. And even if I did I don’t know how I would’ve gone about doing it. To be perfectly honest, Harry, I’ve been afraid of making a mistake that would cost me my friendship with you. I know I’m not usually what turns up around here and I have been worried that that would work against me with you. I don’t think I can tell you just how much it means to know that you don’t see it as a weakness. And perhaps that’s part of the reason I’m drawn to you._

_I’ve never done anything quite like this, and I’m not quite sure where to go from here. So please, forgive me if this doesn’t sound quite like it should._

_Ever since I started here, I never really felt comfortable in my own skin. But for some reason when I’m talking with you, I suddenly feel very right. Nervous, because I’ve always had the ulterior goal of impressing you, but I feel more like myself than any other time. That’s never happened to me before._

_It’s scary but I wouldn’t give it up for anything now. Our talks mean a lot even if they’re quick and in passing. I could listen to you all day, and maybe one day I’ll get the chance._

_But for now, dinner seems like a fine start._

_Sincerely Yours,  
Gary”_

Harry felt like he was going to melt out of his chair and onto the floor. That was better than he could’ve hoped for. Now he didn’t know how he was supposed to focus on the rest of his day. He still had classes to teach and things to do, but how on earth was he supposed to accomplish any of those things when there was _this_ to be taken care of?

He couldn’t afford to think too much on it, having to get ready to head off to his first lecture of the day. No doubt it would feel like one of the longest lectures of his entire career.  
The day had dragged on, as Harry had expected it would. He hadn’t seen Eggsy all day. Not that that was anything out of the ordinary, after all life happened and no one had a perfectly set schedule. But this time it seemed so strange and uncomfortable to not see him at all, like it was on purpose.

He was shutting the door as he left his last lecture of the day, when he heard someone beside him clear their throat. He glanced over, in case on the off-chance it was someone trying to get his attention. Harry nearly dropped his briefcase as he saw who it was.

“Gary,” was all he could manage to say, suddenly feeling very nervous.

“Ay, ‘Arry,” Eggsy didn’t expect to feel as calm as he did. Maybe Harry’s nerves put him at ease a bit, knowing that he wasn’t the only one feeling like he was out of his area of expertise. He smirked, “Anything good come in the mail today, bruv?”

Harry laughed, the edges of his eyes crinkling with genuine joy, “Funny you should mention that. I was hoping to see you today.”

“Not that that’s anything new,” he replied with a wink and a cheeky smile.

He arched an eyebrow, “Are you quite finished?”

He laughed, holding his hands up, “Sorry, sorry, couldn’ help myself.”

Harry smiled good-naturedly, “Yes, I imagine the self-restraint for you at this point is quite taxing.”

There were a few beats of silence before Eggsy ventured to ask, “You wanna find somewhere to talk?”

“I think that’d be best.”

It wasn’t a conversation that they wanted to have on campus. There were too many people that they knew and way too many opportunities for interruptions. About a block away there was a small restaurant that Harry had gone to a few times when he left campus too late to have enough energy to cook for himself. They snagged a booth, sitting across from each other for what felt like the first time in a while. There was a new air about them now.

The waitress brought them each a glass of water, asking if they wanted anything else to drink. Once she walked away, they looked at each other, not able to really avoid the conversation any longer.

“So,” Eggsy stirred his straw in his glass smiling as he did, “I hope you know I ain’t countin’ this as our date.”

Harry laughed, shaking his head, “Well I would certainly hope not, Gary. I promise you I’d make a better impression than this.”

“Well ta be honest, after the love letter I’d assume your date standards would be at least as classy as yer notes.”

He smiled, “I always sound better on paper, Gary. Please don’t be fooled.”

His face flushed pink, “It’s a bit late for that, innit?” he paused, “I gotta be honest, bruv, I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say right now.”

Harry smiled and shrugged as the waitress set their mugs of coffee and tea in front of them, “There’s nothing that you’re _supposed_ to say. I just wanted to talk to you without work being the main topic.”

“I guess that’s fair,” there was a hint of a smile on his face, “So what do you wanna talk about?”

“I want to get to know you. I feel like you’re still a very large, yet very intriguing, question mark.”

He laughed, “I think I could say the same fer you, ‘Arry. You’re not the most open book on the shelf, yea?”

A chuckle escaped him, “It’s a bad habit of mine, I’ll admit. Ever since becoming head of the department I try to keep my personal life fairly detached from my work life.”

There was a smug grin on Eggsy’s face, “And asking one of your employees out on a date was the best way ta keep that up?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’s not exactly in-character for me, I’ll admit.”

“I’m honored, then,” one end of his mouth curled up into a smirk.

They sat and talked about a little bit of everything. It was refreshing to be able have a discussion that didn’t focus around classes or other professors at the university. For a little while it almost was as though they were people, not professions.

However, old habits die hard and Harry found himself unaware of the fact that he was, for the most part, side-stepping some of Eggsy’s questions about his personal life. Luckily Eggsy wasn’t daft and he knew that change didn’t happen overnight. He settled for the little glimpses that Harry allowed him, and in turn was as open as he felt comfortable with when Harry would ask him questions in return. Harry was tentative, almost too much so, trying not to ask something out of place before they even went out on an actual date. He realized very quickly though, that the safest topic of conversation was Eggsy’s little sister.

“That was the young girl who came and visited you a while ago, yes?”

Eggsy laughed, “Yea, her and her Uncle Jamal. I ‘adn’t seen either of ‘em in a bit so it was a nice surprise.”

“You trust your friends to watch after your little sister?”

He nodded enthusiastically before taking a sip of his coffee, “I trust them with her life as much as my own, if not more. They think of her as their little sis as much as I think of her as mine. She’s gonna be spoiled rotten ‘tween the three of us,” he smirked, “Not that she’ll ever mind, though.”

“Seems like you have quite the family going on, then.”

Eggsy laughed, shrugging as he stared down into his coffee mug, “Somethin’ like that I guess.”

Harry sensed the tension starting to creep in, and decided perhaps it was time to switch topics, maybe something that was a bit more like common ground. He refused to talk about work at this point, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t talk about literature and film, which seemed to be something that they shared a passion for. After all, they both made careers out of it. And, if Harry was being completely honest with himself, it was a topic that meant he wouldn’t really have to become an open book himself.

As the time ticked by and the sky changed, the two of them slowly began to realize that they’d have to call it a day soon. It’d been quite the relaxing time, but they both had lives that they had to return to.

When the waitress brought over their check, Eggsy reached forward just quickly enough to get it before Harry did. They locked eyes for a moment and Eggsy knew immediately he wasn’t going to get away with this without a fight. He was open to the challenge, though.

“Gary, please,” was all he said at first.

He laughed as he slid his card in with the check, “Yer _definitely_ gonna havta do better than that, Harry.”

“This place was _my_ idea, so it’s only right that I pay.”

Eggsy smirked, nodding, “Better, but going out to talk was _my_ idea, so I should still pay.

Harry leaned back in the seat, “Is this what it’s going to be like every time?”

He shrugged, “Maybe. Why, ‘Arry, would that really bother you?”

“I don’t like feeling as though I’m robbing my date.”

He arched an eyebrow, “It’s _coffee_ , bruv. It ain’t gonna break my bank, yea?”

Harry sighed, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to win this time, “Alright, alright, you can pay.”

“You can get the next one,” he winked, “sound good?”

As much as he wanted to feign frustration, the smirk on the young man’s face and the playfulness in his eyes would win him over any day of the week. There was no being or staying mad at him. Harry knew that if this turned into any kind of relationship that his resolve wasn’t going to last very long.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Gary.”

“’Ope ya do,” Eggsy smiled at him for a moment before handing the check back to their waitress. The smile was partially because he won that argument, but mostly because there was the definite assurance of a _next time_. Which, now that he thought about it, was the one thing that they hadn’t really discussed.

“So,” Eggsy leaned back in his seat, “now that you’ve ‘ad a bit of real one-on-one time with me, you still wanna do that whole dinner thing?” his smile made it almost seem like a challenge.

Harry’s smile was soft, sincere, “I’d be delighted. Does Saturday night sound like a good night for you?”

“If I’m goin’ out with you it does,” he beamed, cheeks turning pink.

“I’ll pick you up at seven?”

He nodded, “Sounds fine ta me, ‘Arry.”

There was something resembling a smirk on Harry’s face as he said, “Splendid.”

They pulled on their jackets and made their way out of the restaurant without a word passing between them. It was a comfortable silence, though, because for now there wasn’t really anything else that needed to be said. That, and they were both still wrapping their heads around the fact that this whole “date” thing was _really_ happening. They were both more or less suspended in disbelief, and Saturday couldn’t have felt farther away.

They took the walk back to campus as slow as conditions would allow. It wasn’t terribly cold that day, so they didn’t have to rush. They were able to stroll comfortably down the streets and through campus to the parking lot.

Apparently the two of them were parked next to each other, and Eggsy smiled to himself knowing that he’d been there long before Harry. Perhaps it was a little bit of insurance, that if nothing else he would see Eggsy when he walked out to his car at the end of the day. He was glad that he hadn’t left it up to that though.

Eggsy smiled as he half-sat on the hood of his car, “So, I’ll see you durin’ the week I’m assuming?”

“I’d certainly hope so.”

His expression softened into something that Harry hadn’t yet really seen, it was almost sweet, “Aight, I’ll see what I c’n do then,” he winked and just like that he was back to what he’d been, “Drive safe, yea?”

He nodded, “And you do the same.”

“I’ll try. ‘Ave a good one, Harry,” he slid into his car, smiling at Harry as he turned the key in the ignition, and offering up a small wave before pulling out of his spot and driving off, revving his engine for a quick moment for the sole purpose of earning a half-disapproving and half-amused shake of the head from Harry.

Harry sighed, but smiled. He was going to have his hands full with this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all honesty, writing a letter as Eggsy was much simpler in theory. But! Hopefully I at least kinda-sorta did it justice! If you guys have any suggestions or comments or anything like that, feel free to leave them here, or message me on tumblr!
> 
> Find me here: [(x)](http://completely-nonsequitur.com/)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know it's been forever since I posted a chapter, sorry about that! Hope you enjoy this one. :)

Roxy burst into Eggsy’s office the next afternoon, “ _Harry Hart_?”

He looked up from his laptop, a confuse expression on his face. He knew exactly what had happened but he wanted to have a bit of fun with it, “What about him?”

“Don’t give me _that_.”

His eyebrows furrowed, but there was a hint of a smirk on his face, “Rox, I think this conversation would go a lot faster if you could explain to me what yer tryna say.”

She sighed, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk, “When you were asking me about getting involved with people from work, you failed to mention the fact that the person you want to get involved with is _Harry Hart_."

He raised his eyebrows, “Oh, did I ferget to tell you that?”

She sighed, but a smile found its way, “Your sarcasm is charming, Gary.”

“Apparently.”

“So what happened with you two?? I tried to get more out of Merlin but he said if I wanted details I’d have to get them from you.”

Eggsy laughed, “Really? Merlin didn’ toss me right under the bus?”

She smiled, “Don’t get too excited. He said out of respect for his friendship with Harry he wasn’t going to tell me anything. But if you told me something, that’d be fine.”

He shook his head, “Aight, well, there’s really not that much ta tell you, Roxy. We went out, had coffee, talked, and decided we should go on a real date.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re such a _guy_ , Eggsy.”

He looked at her, eyebrows raised, "Yea? Thank you fer noticing, Doll."

She laughed, setting her hands on his desk, “Come on, be a sap for like two minutes and indulge my nosiness.”

He laughed, cocking an eyebrow, “Well, I gotta at least give you points for honesty. Whaddaya wanna know?”

“Who said something first?”

“What, like _ever_?”

She rolled her eyes, but laughed nonetheless, “About this whole _date_ thing!”

He smirked, feeling a little proud of himself when he said, “Harry.”

Her jaw dropped, “No _way_!”

“The amount of shock in yer voice is a bit offensive.”

She smiled, “It’s not shocking that he likes you. That’s not what I meant. I just, I don’t know, I never thought of him as someone who would say something first, you know?”

He smirked, knowing full-well what she had meant, “Yea, I know.”

“So, where are you two going on your _official_ date?”

“’Aven’t got the slightest clue.”

“Oh, so he gets to pick?”

“Well, I mean, _he_ asked _me_ so I’m assumin’ that’s how that works.”

“This is so exciting!” she was practically bouncing in her seat.

“What, you wanna come over b’fore hand and help me do my hair?” he said it in a mocking tone but he saw the look on Roxy’s face and immediately shook his head, “Yer not comin’ over to help me with my hair, Roxy.”

She rolled her eyes, “We’ll see. When’s the big night, anyway?”

“Saturday.”

“You gonna make it that long?”

He laughed, “Well I don’t think there’s really another option that’ll do me any good,” he looked at the time on his phone, “Aight, I gotta get going, I’ve got another class to teach.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll be back; we’re not done talking about this,” she laughed.

He smiled and shook his head as he picked up his bag, “Of course we’re not.”

*

Despite the fact that their actual date was on Saturday, Harry and Eggsy still found themselves grabbing coffee on campus every day at some point. It wasn’t anything to write home about, they just met up at the little café on campus. They’d talk about how their classes were going that day. Harry would pretend that he wasn’t only half listening because he was distracted by how amazing Eggsy looked when he was enthusiastic about something, and Eggsy pretended not to notice.

On Friday afternoon, after Eggsy’s classes were done, the two of them found themselves sitting at their usual table together. They were finalizing their plans for the following evening. It didn’t take long, seeing as how Harry was keeping most of it to himself.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” there was something resembling a smirk on his face.

Eggsy laughed, “Aight, if that’s how you wanna play this. But I’m tellin ya, you could jus-” his phone started ringing on the table, his mom’s picture appearing on the screen. Worry took over his previously overjoyed expression, “Sorry, bruv, I gotta take this.”

Harry’s brows furrowed in concern, he’d never seen someone’s demeanor change so quickly, “By all means.”

“Ay, Mum, what’s goin’ on? Everythin’ alright?...Alright, alright slow down…Okay…Okay yea I’ll be there soon…No don’ apologize, it’s fine…Yea I got stuff fer her to stay the night…Okay,” he stood up, grabbing his jacket and his bag, “I’m gettin’ ready ta leave righ’ now. See you soon…I love you too, Mum,” he hung up the phone and took a deep breath.

“Is everything alright?” Harry made no attempt to hide his worry.

Eggsy shrugged, “Yea, things’ll be fine. I gotta go get my sis from my mum’s house.”

He nodded slowly, “Alright…well if you need anything, don’t hesitate.”

A soft smile spread across his lips, “Thanks, ‘Arry,” he paused for a moment, his attitude returning to what it had been before the phone call, “If you ‘ave any problems findin’ my place t’morrow lemme know, yea?”

Harry nodded, “I should be alright, but I will let you know, yes.”

“’Ave a good one. I’ll see you…tomorrow,” his eyes twinkled with excitement.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Gary.”

Eggsy walked out of the café, but as soon as the door shut behind him he all but flew across campus to get to the parking lot. He didn’t know what was happening at his mom’s house, but if she had called him to come and get Daisy he had to assume that it wasn’t anything good. She hated calling him to simply come over, let alone come over and swipe up his little sister for a night or so.

He made it to their flat in record time. He knocked on the door, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet. The door opened a crack, and relief immediately appeared on Michelle’s face. She opened the door the rest of the way and let Eggsy inside.

“Mum, what’s going on?”

“Dean and I were arguing earlier, and you, you know how that gets sometimes, babe,” her eyes were glued to the floor, “I don’t even know what he was so angry about. But I told him that if he was going to yell he’d have to do it somewhere else because Daisy was still sleeping,” she ran her fingers through her hair, inadvertently revealing the bruises on the side of her neck.

Eggsy’s eyes widened, and he slowly stepped forward, trying to get a better look at them, “Mum, you should come with me too. You can’t stay here.”

She shook her head, “It’s fine, babe. I can handle it. It’s Daisy I’m worried about.”

“Yea but it’s _you_ that I’m worried about.”

She smiled, gently placing her hand on the side of Eggsy’s face, “You’re such an amazing boy, Eggsy.”

Before she could say anything else, Daisy came into the room, her little suitcase in tow. She dropped it with a smile when she saw her older brother standing in the middle of the flat. She ran over and jumped, forever trusting him to catch her. He did, of course, and he propped her on his hip, kissing her forehead.

“Eggsy!”

“My Dais! You grow a few inches every time I see you.”

She smiled, “Mummy says I get to go to your house for a sleepover!”

He smiled and nodded, trying to make sure the fear in the back of his mind wasn’t showing through, “You ready??”

“Yea!” she squirmed to be let down. As soon as her feet his the ground she went back to get her suitcase.

“I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon to get her,” there were tears in her eyes, “Thank you so much, Eggsy.”

He shook his head, “You don’ havta thank me, Mum. I’d do anythin’ fer you two,” he hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, “Don’t hesitate to come over if you need to. Call me if anythin’ ‘appens, yea?”

She took a deep breath and nodded, “I will. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mum,” he turned back to Daisy with a smile, “Say bye to Mum, Dais.”

She ran up and hugged her mother. “You behave for Eggsy now, alright?”

The little girl nodded, “I love you!”

She smiled, tears nearly starting to run down her cheeks, “I love you too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As the two of them made their way back to Eggsy’s flat, Daisy rambled on about school, and kids from school. Eggsy smiled, nodded, and encouraged her to keep going. He didn’t know how much his mother or Dean really listened to her at home. He knew his mother would want to, but it wasn’t exactly the best environment for stimulating conversations. He always wondered how much Daisy picked up on. There was no way she could be oblivious to all of it.

“So, what do you wanna do fer dinner t’night, Dais?” Eggsy was rifling through his cabinets. He loved cooking, it was just that lately he hadn’t had much time to do it.

She stood up on the couch cushions, “Can we get pizza, Eggsy? Pretty please??”

He smiled, “Only ‘cos you said please,” he pulled out his phone, looking back at her for a moment, “You wanna see Uncle Ryan and Uncle Jamal?”

Her face brightened and she nodded, “Yea!”

He laughed, “Alright, I’ll see if they have any plans,” he texted the both of them, telling them that Daisy was missing her favorite uncles so if they were free they should get over to his flat ASAP.

The two of them responded in record time, saying they’d be there in less than half an hour. Eggsy smiled to himself, proud of the fact that he had friends who were always so ready to be there for his little sister. He called and placed the order for pizza, enough for four instead of two.

They were there before the pizza, and Eggsy’s heart warmed at how excited his little sister was to see the two of them walk through the door. He liked to think that maybe as she got older and was able to choose to spend a little more time with him and his friends, things would get a little better. They didn’t have their lives totally together yet, but it’d do her good to just be around some more positive energy.

Soon enough she was telling them all of her school stories. They nodded, asking questions and encouraging her as they finished off the last couple slices of pizza. Eggsy sat back with a smile, happy with his little family of sorts.

They were all in his small living room area when his phone buzzed, and when he looked down at the text he saw Roxy’s name. He sighed, having a pretty good inkling as to what it was going to be about. He opened it, shaking his head and smiling as he read it, _“Okay I promise I won’t bug you anymore after this. But have fun tomorrow! I better get some good stories on Monday!”_

He typed back a quick response, letting her know that she could ask whatever she wanted next time he saw her.

Ryan raised an eyebrow, “What’re you smilin’ at, Eggsy?”

“Nothin’, just Roxy bein’…herself,” he chuckled.

“Wha’s the deal with you two?”

“We’re friends.”

Daisy smiled, “Is she pretty?”

Eggsy smiled softly, ruffling her hair, “She’s very pretty, Dais.”

“Why haven’t you asked her out, ‘cuz?” Jamal asked.

He laughed, “I’m not quite her type, bruv.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Jamal shrugged, “Seems like she's cool to hang out with, yea?”

“Yea, she’s pretty great. It’s nice ta have someone else around who’s goin’ through some’a the same sh-stuff at work, ya know?”

They veered onto a different conversation track for a bit until they could see Daisy starting to get tired. Her eyes were fighting to stay open, and it seemed like she was yawning every few seconds. It was cute, but Eggsy knew that if she tried to stay up any later she’d be miserable the next day.

He ran his hand up and down her back, “You wanna go ta bed, Dais?”

She nodded, “Yes please.”

He felt his heart melting inside his chest, “Aight. C’mon, say goodnight to yer uncles.”

She stumbled sleepily to each of the boys, giving them a hug, which they gratefully returned. They each gave her a kiss on the cheek and said goodnight before sending her back to Eggsy, who scooped her up and brought her to his room, tucking her into bed.

He kissed her on the forehead, “If you need anything, let me know, okay?”

She nodded, her eyes half closed, “Okay.”

He smoothed her hair back out of her face, “I love you, Daisy.”

“I love you too, Eggsy,” she mumbled as she turned her head sideways on the pillow. Within moments she was fast asleep.

He made his way back out, his two friends smiling. Jamal spoke up, “You’ve got the coolest baby sis, ‘cuz.”

“She’s all grown up,” Ryan shook his head in disbelief, not having seen her in a while.

“Yer both right,” Eggsy laughed as he sat down, “Mum’s coming to get her tomorrow.”

“Somethin’ happen with Dean?” Jamal asked.

He shrugged, “Somethin’ is _always_ happening with Dean.”

“You wanna-”

“No,” Eggsy didn’t let him finish the sentence. He knew that they always offered to let him vent because that’s what friends are there for, but he’d get himself too worked up over it if he started now.

The three of them sat and talked for a bit, all swapping stories about how life had been going for them as of late. Eggsy caught up on the latest and greatest of what was going on with his friends. And, somehow, he let it slip that he was going on a date the next night.

“With who??” Ryan was a little more than shocked by the news.

Eggsy laughed, trying to brush it off, “No one, just a bloke from the university.” It’s not that he didn’t want them to know, but he didn’t want to get ahead of himself. He didn’t really want to tell anyone until he was a little more sure of everything.

As if reading his mind, “Be careful with that, ‘cuz,” Jamal warned him, “That could get messy.”

“Trust me, I know.”

“How’d that happen, anyway?”

He shrugged, “He asked me to go ta dinner with ‘im.”

“Just like that?”

He nodded, “Just like that.”

“Well, good luck, ‘cuz,” Jamal laughed, “You ready to be back in the game?”

He smiled, “I guess I gotta be, yea?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I have been super duper awful about neglecting to update this fic and my other one that's currently in the works, but life has just been a little outta control. I think things are calming down? But unfortunately I can't guarantee speedy updates all the time. Thanks for sticking with my though! You guys rock. xox

Eggsy woke up the next morning to Daisy tugging on his sleeve. He’d fallen asleep on the couch after the guys had left. He was about halfway through a movie before exhaustion took him over. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, smiling at his little sister whose hair was sticking out in every direction.

“Morning, Dais,” he sat upright, sweeping her onto his lap.

“Hi,” she yawned, still not completely awake.

“You sleep okay?”

She nodded, “Your bed is huge!”

He laughed as he stood up, propping her on his hip, “Glad you like it,” he made his way into the kitchen, “I dunno ‘bout you, Dais’, but I’m feelin’ like pancakes fer breakfast.”

Her eyes lit up and Eggsy couldn’t help but to laugh. While he was still living with his mother he’d gotten good at doing pretty much everything one-handedly since he was almost always the hold holding and playing with Daisy, so gathering up everything he needed to make breakfast with a small child attached to him was hardly a hindrance at all.

By the time afternoon rolled around, Daisy was packed and dressed with her hair all done. Eggsy smiled to himself; it was little moments like that that made him want to maybe, possibly, be a father one day. But for now, being a good older brother would suffice.

It was starting to get later in the afternoon, and any other day he wouldn’t have minded at all that his mother was running late. He was never in any rush to get rid of Daisy. But tonight was the first night in so long that he actually had important plans. He checked his phone, and still no texts or calls from his mom. He was tempted to call her but he knew that if she was running late, more likely than not there was a good reason.

In the meantime, he texted Harry. He knew that he wouldn’t get any details out of him, but he at least wanted to know what he should wear. After Harry’s few vague responses, telling Eggsy that he’d look fine regardless, he gave a more specific question. _“On a scale from t-shirt and jeans to tuxedo,”_ was how he phrased it.

He read Harry’s response, and he could practically hear the man’s voice (and sarcasm) in his head. _“I think a tuxedo would be a tad much. But I’m sure you’d look lovely in one if you really want to wear one.”_ Eggsy shook his head, but all sarcasm aside it was helpful.

He looked at Daisy, who was sprawled on the floor with crayons everywhere as she worked through pages in her coloring book. He smiled slightly before getting up and heading to his room to try and put together an outfit for the night.

His closet was filled with clothes, but as he pushed hanger after hanger aside, he felt like he had absolutely nothing to his wardrobe. Appearance had never really been his main priority, and he was starting to regret that lifestyle choice immensely.

“Eggsy,” Daisy wandered into his room, climbing onto his bed, “what’re you doing?”

He smiled, running his hand back through his hair, “Trying to pick out clothes to wear out tonight.”

“Where you going?” she sat cross-legged in front of him.

“I don’ really know, Dais,” he chuckled to himself. When he saw the confused look on her face, one end of his mouth curled up into a smirk, “I’m going out with someone but they won’ tell me where we’re going.”

“Like a surprise?” her eyes lit up.

He nodded, “Exactly.”

“I like surprises,” her voice was a little quieter, as though she was telling Eggsy a secret.

“I usually do too,” he laughed, “But not as much righ’ now.”

“Can I help you pick out clothes?” she pleaded, “You pick mine out all the time.”

He smirked, trying to hold back his laughter. He knew that honestly, he could always just change after she went home. He nodded, “Sure you can.”

Daisy took pretty much everything out of his closet, not that he had expected any less. His entire bed and some of his floor was covered with all sorts of t-shirts, button-downs, and whatever he managed to fit on hangers. In truth some of the stuff he’d completely forgotten about since he hadn’t worn it in years.

He didn’t know how long he’d spent putting things back on hangers and back in the closet, but it must’ve been longer than he thought because he turned around to see Daisy asleep on his bed. She was half wrapped in a blanket, half wrapped in some of his stray shirts. He smiled to himself as he took a picture on his phone. She was growing up quick, and he wouldn’t have too many more opportunities for things like that before she grew out of it.

He took one of his black button-downs off the bed, holding it up for a moment before turning to his mirror and holding it against him. He pulled his t-shirt off over his head and slid into that, buttoning it up. It fit better than he remembered. He opened one of the drawers on his dresser and pawed through his assortment of ties. He had a few bowties too, not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. He grabbed one of his red ties, carefully tying it and folding his collar over it.

The reflection in the mirror almost didn’t look like him. He hadn’t really put thought into his looks in a long time. Probably since his job interview, but that was a whole different ball game. But he cleaned up nice when he put on a tie and actually put the effort forth to tuck his shirt into his jeans.

Daisy didn’t look like she was going to wake up in the immediate future, so he slid out of the room and set to work doing his hair. He didn’t style it very often, usually just combing it enough to keep it tame, and when he wasn’t at the university he always had a hat on.

Just as he put his glasses on, his phone started ringing. He looked at the time before answering, and his stomach tightened. He hoped it wasn’t his mom calling to say that she wasn’t going to be able to come and get Daisy. Harry would be there in less than an hour, and as much as Eggsy loved his sister he didn’t really picture his first date involving her.

“Hello? Hey, Mum, is everythin’ alright?” he listened hard, since she was talking at a mile a minute, “Mum, mum honestly you don’ havta apologize it’s fine. I love havin’ her here…Yea she’s takin’ a nap righ’ now. Hanging with her uncles tuckered her out, I think,” he laughed for a moment, “But anyway, she’ll be ready when you get here…Aight I’ll see you soon Mum. Love you too, bye.”

He took a deep breath. There was nothing that he could really do about anything at that point, so getting stressed over it wasn’t going to help at all. He shook his head for a moment before returning his attention to the things that he _did_ have control over. He walked back to his room and looked in at Daisy, who was still out cold. He knew that if he let her sleep too much longer she wouldn’t go to bed when it was time. So, as much as he hated ever waking her up, he strolled over to the bed and gently shook her shoulder, rousing her up out of her sleep.

“Mum’s gonna be here soon, Dais.”

She sat up, rubbing her eyes, “Can I stay another night, Eggsy?” her voice was still riddled with sleep, “Pretty please?”

His heart melted inside his chest, but he shook his head, “Any other night I’d let you, Dais. But I can’t tonight,” he picked her up, carrying her out to the living room, “But you can come over again soon. Whenever you want as long as Mum says it’s okay, deal?”

She nodded, “Deal.”

“Now c’mon, let’s start getting your stuff together.”

Daisy was all packed and ready to go. Eggsy was just grabbing her jacket when there was a knock at the door. He opened the door without a second thought, fully prepared to greet his mother with a hug and a kiss when he very quickly, although almost not quickly enough, realized that Harry was the one standing in front of him.

He couldn’t hide his surprise, “H-Harry,” he stammered, “ay, um, c’mon in.”

“You seem surprised,” there was a little bit of laughter to Harry’s voice as they walked over to Eggsy’s table, “Did you think I wouldn’t show?”

“What? No,” he laughed nervously, fighting the urge to run his hands through his hair and mess it up, “I just, I wasn’t expecting you just yet.”

Harry nodded towards Daisy, who was plopped on the couch playing on Eggsy’s phone, “I see that.”

“I’m so sorry, ‘Arry. My mum said she’d pick her up in the afternoon but life ‘appened and...well, she’s on her way.”

“You don’t need to explain, Eggsy,” there was a warm smile on his face, “Not ever when it comes to family.”

The tension dissolved from his body, “Thank you. That means a lot.”

There was the sound of footsteps on the floor and Daisy came running over. She grabbed onto Eggsy’s hand, looking back and forth between him and Harry. Eggsy smiled down at her, “Daisy, do you remember meeting Harry at my job a little while ago?”

She nodded, giving a small wave, “Hi.”

“Hello, Daisy.”

There was another knock at the door, and Eggsy let out a small sigh. He walked over to the door, seeing the face that he thought he was going to a few minutes ago. “Hey, Mum,” he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, “How’re you feeling?”

She nodded, “I’m alright, babe,” she took a step back and looked at her son, “Eggsy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so dressed up,” she smiled, playfully nudging his shoulder, “You have a date tonight or something?”

Eggsy turned himself so that his mother could see where Harry and Daisy were. Her face went from pleased to worried, “Eggsy, I’m _so_ sorry oh my god. If I had known-”

“Stop,” he said it gently so she knew he honestly wasn’t mad, “it’s fine, Mum, really. I’m just glad yer okay.”

“Daisy,” she waved for her daughter to come closer, “Come on, we should let Eggsy get back to his,” she smirked at her son for a moment, “to his date.”

Eggsy knew that for as awkward as this situation was for him, he’d never hear the end of it from Harry or his mom if he didn’t introduce them. With a quiet sigh, he waved Harry over and introduced him, all the while thinking to himself that this would be the most interesting first date story that he would ever have to tell.

“Well it was nice meeting you, Harry,” Michelle nodded as she picked up Daisy’s bag, “I’ll leave you two be,” she turned to her son, “I’ll see you soon, Eggsy.”

He bit back a sigh, not liking it when people called him by his nickname in front people he worked with, but especially Harry. He smiled nonetheless, “Drive safe, Mum. I’ll see you in a bit.”

After the two shut behind the two of them, Eggsy leaned back against it with a sigh. He looked at Harry, a nervous smile on his face, “Sorry ‘bout that, ‘Arry. It really wasn’t part of my plan.”

He laughed, “That’s fine, Gary, really. I can honestly say that that was the first time since maybe high school that I met the parents on a first date.”

“Ah, geeze,” Eggsy’s cheeks turned beat red and he stared down at his feet, which still didn’t have shoes on them yet. God he was such a mess. He took a deep breath, “Aight, well, I just gotta grab my shoes and then we can go…as long as you’re still up for this after that whole thing?”

He had a warm smile on his face, “I know you’re probably a bit flustered right now, as most people would be if they were in your shoes,” a laugh escaped him, “but you really don’t need to worry. You haven’t scared me off just yet. You’ll have to try a bit harder.”

His shoulders relaxed and he gave a small smile, “That’s a challenge you might not wanna put out there, bruv.”

“I’m willing to take my chances,” he held the door open, “Shall we?”

The two of them made their way down to Harry’s car, making small talk. Harry could practically feel Eggsy’s thoughts running at a mile a minute. It was endearing, to say the least.

“So does everyone call you Eggsy?” Harry ventured to ask with a smile as they drove down the road.

Eggsy laughed, his face turning red again, “Uh, kinda. The people I grew up with, at least.”

“No one you work with, you mean?” Harry raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face.

“I think that’s the last thing most people I work with need to hear me be called. Roxy already heard it once and trust me I know she’s still tryna find a good time to ask about it again,” he smiled, “It’s like how you don’ let anyone else call you Harry.”

He looked over at him for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve only ever heard Merlin call you that in passing,” he shrugged, “Ev’ryone else calls ya Dr. Hart. An’ I never see you correctin’ ‘em, either.”

He nodded, impressed that he’d picked up on something like that, “How long have you had that little fact tucked away?”

He laughed, “I saw how shocked Merlin was the first time I called you that. I didn’t think much of it; fig’red that wasn’t the most shocking thing about you an’ I bein’ friends. But then I just sorta started noticin’ all the other stuff,” he shrugged, “I dunno. I told you, I kinda just feed off people’s vibes.”

As they continued to drive, Eggsy realized that he didn’t really know where they were going. If it had been anyone else behind the wheel, he would’ve been nervous that he was going to be the next “Missing Person” story in the news, but he trusted Harry. Still, his curiosity would always get the best of him no matter what.

“So I still don’ get to know where we’re goin’?”

“You had asked before if I grew up in town,” he kept his eyes glued on the road, “As a matter of fact I did not. I spent most of my life a couple towns over.”

“’M I gonna meet your whole family now?” he laughed.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head, “No, not tonight. But a lot of my favorite places are here. There’s one place that I think you’ll really like.”

For some reason, Eggsy felt very relaxed when he said that. He’d been so jittery the whole ride so far but when Harry said that, his brain seemed to quiet down for some reason. There was a small but genuinely pleased smile on Eggsy’s face as he said, “Alright, I trust you.”

It wasn’t a long drive. In fact, Eggsy felt like they had hardly been in the car at all. Harry got out and walked around to open Eggsy’s door for him. It was a small gesture, but Eggsy was flustered by it nonetheless.

 

“Unfortunately,” Harry said as he looked around at the buildings, “they don’t have a parking lot at this place. So it’s about a block away. Hope that’s alright,” he smiled over at Eggsy.

“I think I’ll make it a block,” he winked.

Harry laughed, “Let me know if you need to stop and rest.”

“What, you wouldn’t carry me there?”

“You’re quite something, Gary,” he said with a small grin as he shook his head.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” he smirked.

Harry stopped in front of a small brick building. It had an outdoor patio, and Eggsy had to imagine it was nice to sit there on summer nights and eat dinner. But as it was, it was quite cold and all the tables and chairs were stacked away. Harry saw how curiously Eggsy was looking around at the patio, and fought the urge to say something along the lines of, “ _We can come back in the summer to eat outside_ ,” as held the door open for him; he smiled and nodded his thanks as he walked through.

Eggsy looked around in wonder. He never really went out all that much, and when he did it was pretty much to the same two or three places, and mostly he went to bars and clubs, nothing like where they were.

It was a nice little bistro. Eggsy could immediately see why Harry was drawn to a place like that. It seemed to have a very Harry Hart vibe about it. All the walls on the inside were brick, with low-hanging lights over each table and booth. There was also a small bar on the wall opposite of where they walked in from. From what Eggsy saw it was large enough to seat eight, maybe ten people. It was a warm atmosphere; he felt like he’d been there before despite not knowing the place even existed.

The hostess greeted them with a smile, “Ah, Harry,” she beamed, “I was beginning to wonder when I’d see you again!”

He smiled, “I try never to stay away for too long.”

“Reservation for two?”

He nodded, his arm straying and gently wrapping around Eggsy’s waist, “That’s the one.”

There was a hint of a smirk on her face, “Follow me, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone who's love-life has been all but defined by awkward moments with family, I felt like I should get at least one of those moments in this story haha


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I haven't forgotten about this fic! Life has just had other plans for me I suppose haha. Hope you enjoy! xox

When they sat down at the table, Eggsy was fighting to keep his leg still. Bouncing it was a nervous habit he thought he’d ditched some time back, but then again he hadn’t been this kind of nervous is a long time either. 

Shortly after the hostess walked away, their waitress appeared. Eggsy felt his stomach twist once the girl started talking.

“Good evening, gentlemen, I’m Lily and I’ll be yo-” she stopped mid-sentence, “Professor Unwin…”

He laughed, “You _really_ don’t need ta call me that when we aren’t on campus anymore, Lily.”

“I, um, I can have someone else wait on you if you’d like…” her cheeks flushed.

He smiled, “Don’ worry about it. If you’re as good of a waitress as you are a writer I think we’ll be just fine.”

She nodded, still feeling nervous, “Alright then,” she gave a small smile, “Can I get you guys something to drink while you look over the menus?” she jotted down their orders and was off with a flourish to the kitchen, leaving the two of them on their own again.

“Familiar faces no matter where you go,” Harry said with a soft chuckle as he looked over the menu.

Eggsy let out a nervous laugh, placing one hand on his knee in a futile attempt to keep it from moving, “I’d be lyin’ if I said that didn’t catch me off-guard.”

“She seems like a nice girl.”

He chuckled, nodding, “Most of the kids are good ones, y’know.”

“Yes but that might be because they all _like_ you.”

“Just ‘cos I’m young and pretty,” he winked. He smiled to himself, shaking his head.

“Amused?” Harry smiled.

“No, I mean, it’s just,” he laughed, “I warned Rox about this when she and I went out a while back. Told ‘er that she hadda be ready to see her students when she was out an’ everythin’. Fer some reason I didn’t think that’d apply to me t’night.”

“Wishful thinking,” Harry laughed.

Despite the fact that Eggsy still felt a little awkward when Lily brought their drinks back to them and took their orders, he hadn’t ever had such a nice time just being out with someone. Once he let himself start to relax a bit, he realized that he felt more confident and at ease than he originally thought he would. He didn’t know if it was the fact that he was with Harry, or if he should give himself a little more credit for being able to handle himself around people.

As they made their way through dinner, it was the first time that Eggsy really found out anything having to do with Harry’s personal life. It was only fair, since he was a part of it now. He knew that Harry grew up around where they were currently, but he wanted to know more. It was refreshing to just listen to him talk about himself. Eggsy really had no desire to be anywhere else or do anything else.

“I grew up a few streets,” he pointed to the far wall of the restaurant, “that way.”

“What made you move the whopping two towns over?” Eggsy smirked.

He laughed, “Same thing that happens to most people, I guess. I was in my twenties and wanted to be as far away from my parents as possible. Which was fine…until I realized that money and jobs don’t just appear from nowhere,” he took a sip of his beer, “I worked a few odd jobs for a few years, luckily I had Merlin there because he’d help cover whatever part of the rent and grocery bill that I couldn’t. Then I saw that the university was hiring. And, well, here we are,” there was a warm smile on his face.

“The esteemed Harry Hart, hauled ass outta his parents’ house.”

He chuckled, “Oh don’t say it like it’s so unbelievable.”

“It kinda is, bruv.”

“Do I really seem so rigid to you?”

“You ain’t _rigid_. You just, I dunno, I guess I kinda pictured you livin’ a storybook sorta life. I certainly never thought that you’d be the kind to book out on yer mum and dad.”\

Harry shrugged, “They understood. I mean, as much as parents can with that sort of thing. They certainly didn’t _like_ it. But they also couldn’t stop me.”

“So, you were a bit of a punk then, yea?” Eggsy was enjoying this story a tad too much.

He laughed, “I think _punk_ is a bit of a strong term. But I caused my fair share of trouble. Drove my parents up the wall. My brother, well, he was glad that he finally had his own room but other than that he said, and will _still_ say, that I ruined his teenage years for him.”

“Parents went on lock down after you?”

Harry laughed, nodding, “Oh yes.”

“Classic.”

“Yes, well, that’s the brief synopsis of my life story. Or, rather, the more _interesting_ part of my life story.”

Eggsy looked down at his drink, a semi-sincere laugh escaped him, “Can’t wait till I get to a boring part of my life story.”

“You’ll get there, Gary, trust me.”

He went to say something else, but before he could Lily reappeared, chipper as ever, “Can I get anything else for you tonight, gentlemen? Dessert? Wine?”

Harry looked over at Eggsy, who smiled and gave a slight shake of his head. He turned back to Lily, “I think we’re all set here.”

“Alright,” she set the check on the table, “No rush. Whenever you’re ready,” she flashed a smile before spinning and walking away.

Harry picked up the check, pulling a card out of his pocket. He spoke to Eggsy as though the interruption had never happened, “And besides, something tells me things aren’t going to stay boring in my life for much longer,” he set the check on the edge of the table with a smile.

They walked out of the restaurant with smiles on their faces. Eggsy was in the middle of a story about Daisy when Harry turned and walked in the opposite direction from the way that they’d gotten to the restaurant in the first place. Eggsy looked at him with a confusion all over his face.

“We came from that way…”

Harry nodded and continued in the direction he was going, “I know.”

Eggsy looked back and forth as if he was weighing his two options for a moment, even though he knew that he was going to follow Harry no matter what direction the man was walking in.

“Where we going?” he fell into stride with Harry.

“Back to the car,” there was a grin on his face. He casually wrapped his arm around Eggsy’s waist, “Haven’t you ever heard of taking the scenic route?”

The two of them walked along in semi-silence. It was comfortable, though. The quiet was broken only by Eggsy who couldn’t contain his questions. Harry didn’t mind it; it’d been a long time since someone new came into his life and really wanted to get to know him like that. More than that, it was the first time in an even longer time that Harry wanted to _let_ someone get to know him like that. He watched as the young man beside him gazed around in apparent wonder, and it warmed his heart, but he also couldn’t help but to be curious about Eggsy’s own upbringing if this was all such a culture shock.

They walked down a little side-street. Nearly all the buildings were apartment complexes, and most of them were already decorated with Christmas lights out on their balconies and such. It was a cute lane to walk down.

“Was there a specific reason you wanted to leave here, ‘Arry?” Eggsy looked around, wondering why on _Earth_ someone would ever want to give this up.

Harry shrugged, “No matter where you live, eventually you want to be somewhere else. I love it here now, and I like coming home for weekends with my brother and family. But I wanted something that was my own. Even if it ended up being my own only two towns over.”

That was a sentiment that Eggsy could relate to. He knew what it was like to need to be out on your own for the sake of your sanity. He just never thought that someone whose life wasn’t enveloped in constant chaos would really feel the same way.

They finally got back to the car and Harry opened the passenger door for him, earning another grin from Eggsy. It was shaping up to be the best date that Eggsy had been on in a while, if ever. And as he watched Harry climb in on his own side of the car, he realized that he didn’t want to go back home solely because he didn’t want their night to be over. This wasn’t like the other times he’d gone out with someone. He couldn’t just invite Harry to come back to his place for the night and then never call him again. Or rather, he _could_ do that, but he didn’t have any desire to.

The two of them stood in front of the door to Eggsy’s flat. This was the part of the night that Harry had been worrying about ever since he realized he’d be going on a date with his colleague. He had no idea how he was supposed to go about it, and given the fact that they’d see each other frequently whether or not this whole thing went well, it put a bit of pressure on him.

“I had a really great time, ‘Arry,” Eggsy’s cheeks were pink and he was smiling.

“I’m glad,” he felt a little light-headed, “I had a good time, too.”

“Soo…” he looked down at his feet for a moment, “I’ll see you Monday?”

“Of course,” he smiled, “of course you will.”

“Alright, well,” Eggsy shifted nervously, not knowing what the protocol was for this. There was a line between what he _wanted_ to do, and what he _should_ do given the particular situation, “’Ave a good weekend, Harry,” he stood up on his tiptoes and kissed Harry on the cheek, getting weak in the knees as he did.

Harry couldn’t pretend that it hadn’t caught him a bit off-guard. He felt his face get hot and whatever shred of his cool demeanor he’d managed to keep intact went completely out the window. His voice was a little unsteady, “Y-yes, you too, Gary.”

Eggsy unlocked the door to his flat and opened it the slightest bit. He looked back at Harry, “Drive safe, yea? Let me know when you’re home?”

He smiled, “Of course.” Eggsy flashed a wink before going to step into his apartment. Before he got even two steps, Harry got a second wave of courage, “Gary?”

Eggsy turned, a dorky grin on his face, “Yea?”

Without a word, Harry stepped forward and kissed him. When there wasn’t any resistance, Harry placed his hand on the back of Eggsy’s head, fingers tangling in his hair for a moment as Harry kept him as close as he could. Harry couldn’t help but to smile as he felt Eggsy’s body relax and fall into their kiss.

He stepped back, letting Eggsy go. The young man’s face was as red as it could be, jaw slack. Harry took a deep breath, a little more confident in himself than he had been thirty seconds beforehand, “I’ll see you soon, Gary.”

His brain was still trying to process what had just happened, “Yea, yea ‘c-course. G’night, ‘Arry.”

“Goodnight,” he leaned forward and gave him one last peck on the lips before turning and heading off.

Eggsy stood in the doorway, bracing himself on the doorframe because he knew that his legs weren’t going to be able to support him. At that point none of his limbs had any feeling to them. He’d never been kissed like _that_ before. He’d never felt so _wanted_ before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was a tad shorter than some of the others, but I really wanted it to solely focus on their date and nothing else. I wanted it to sort of be a singular-event sorta thing. But trust me, there will be more dates and notes and the like to come. Promise. ;)


	13. Chapter 13

Eggsy got to campus early on Monday morning. Going to work every day had turned into a much brighter prospect than it had been before the weekend. He went to his office to drop off some of his things, and then he scampered down the stairs back to the first floor. He sauntered down the hall, peeking into Harry’s office to see if the man had made it into work yet. Eggsy smiled at the sight of the untouched office. He dropped a letter into the man’s mailbox, thinking it was too early still to let it slip that he could easily get past the lock on the man’s door.

He went back upstairs and started sorting through his books and notes, parceling out what he’d need for the first half of the day. There was a knock at the door and he looked at the clock on his desk, trying to figure out who would be on campus so early, but he realized that there was only twenty minutes until his class started.

“Come in!”

The door opened and Lily slowly stepped inside, a nervous smile on her face, “Hey, Professor.”

Eggsy chuckled to himself, “Lily! How’re you today?”

She sat down, “I’m fine, thanks,” she paused, nervously pulling at the hems of her sleeves, “Professor Unwin, about the other night-”

“I didn’t know that you were a waitress,” there was a soft smile on his face, making it clear that whatever Lily was worried about, she didn’t need to be, “And a very good one at that.”

She let out a nervous laugh, “Thank you.”

“I realize that was prob’ly not what you were expecting ta see.”

“Not at all,” she admitted.

“I understand that. And I realize you probably still feel kinda awkward about it, yea?” She nodded but didn’t say anything. Eggsy leaned back in his chair, “I don’ blame you. I’d feel pretty fuckin’ awkward if I had to wait on two of my professors that were on a date,” he laughed, “If it’s any consolation, ya handled it like a champ.”

She smiled, “I appreciate that.”

“You alright ‘bout all’a this?”

She nodded, “Yea, yea of course. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be uncomfortable in class or anything.”

“Of course not. I’m doing my job here, you’re doing your job there, tha’s all.”

“Thanks, Profe-”

“ _Gary_ ,” he laughed, “If anyone has earned the right to call me that, it’s you.”

She smirked, “Thanks, Gary,” she leaned forward onto his desk, “So how’d the rest of the date go?” she raised her eyebrows suggestively.

He laughed, “Aight, very funny,” he gestured to the door, “G’won, I’ll be leaving to head to class in a minute or two.”

“See you in a bit, then,” Lily stood up with a smile and flitted out the door.

Eggsy sat at his desk, shaking his head and smiling. At least she was a good sport about it. He didn’t know how he’d handle catching two of his professors on a date when he was in college. Even though it hadn’t been that long ago that he was, it was different now that _he_ was the professor. And if he was being honest with himself, he was glad that it was a _student_ that had seen the two of them out together and not a fellow professor. He didn’t know if there were any _actual_ rules about that sort of thing, but he knew that regardless it wasn’t going to be well-received by a majority, if not all, of the department.

He tossed a few books into his bag and got ready to head to the lecture. Maybe it was just his mind getting ahead of him, but the reality of people gradually finding out about him and Harry didn’t escape him. For now it was Lily, but she’d probably mention it to a friend or two considering how off-guard it caught everyone involved. And someone would ask, a professor or two would find out, there was just a snowball effect waiting to happen. If thing, whatever it was, was going to continue, Eggsy needed to brace himself.

He stood in front of the class, leafing through his notes before the lecture began. They’d just started another novel, and after dissecting _Cloud Atlas_ for half a semester, it was hard for anything to live up to that. Eggsy wished he could just spend the whole few months on that novel alone. He wasn’t that lucky, though. And to keep it interesting for his students, he had the second half of the semester focusing on prose poetry and comparing it to “regular” fiction. It was always interesting to see how students made the parallels and went about creating their own personal literature out of it.

“So,” Eggsy paced back and forth in the front of the lecture hall, “for today I told you all to start looking into Frank O’Hara,” he paused, looking at the small sea of students in front of him, “Did any’a you do that?”

There was muffles of laughter and a few students nodding, a couple shaking their heads. He hadn’t really expected anything different. Without a set of specific readings or articles, it was really easy to just skip an assignment and hope for the best. He knew that. He’d been there.

“Aight, well, since I know that not _all_ of you did, we’ll spend a bit introducing our dear friend, yea?” he sat on the table in the front of the class, “O’Hara was an American poet, and he dabbled in the visual arts as well. Which, if ya ask me, the two things go hand in hand,” he paused, “But I really don’ feel like rattlin’ off this guy’s life story, so I’m gonna make you guys do it,” he laughed, “So for those of you who did some research, tell me some things about ‘im. Anythin’ that you found interesting.”

A few hands went up throughout the lecture hall, and the students who had looked into their first poet for the second half of the semester. Eggsy always found it interesting to know what other people found noteworthy, which is why he kept his opinions to himself until everyone else had had the chance to say their piece.

After everyone had put in their two cents, Eggsy gave an approving nod and was about to turn to his notes when someone called out from the back of the lecture hall, “Wasn’t he gay?”

There were a few assorted laughs throughout the room, more because of the fact that the comment wasn't prompted in the slightest. Eggsy laughed, nodding, “He was. I was actually a bit surprised no one else mentioned that b’fore,” he paused, “Did you look inta him, Tyler? Or was that just a bit of trivia you picked up along the way?”

He laughed, “One’a my mates took a poetry class. He had to write an essay or somethin’ and I had to listen to everything he found on the guy since we shared a room.”

“Fair enough. But, yes, he was gay. Now, the thing about O’Hara that I wanna focus on the most is his writing process. Actually, b’fore class ends I’m gonna give you a video to watch before the next time I see you. Don’t let me ferget,” he spun around and walked back to the chalkboard, “So, basically how he goes about writing is this…”

As he carried on, jotting down the main points on the chalkboard, the door to the lecture hall creaked open. Harry slid in and leaned against the door, much like he had before. Eggsy didn’t notice, but his students did. For the most part they ignored him, the initial shock value having faded after the last time, but Lily was trying to bite back a smile.

She wasn’t quite successful enough, though, because Tyler noticed her giggling to herself and nudged her, “Wanna let me in on the joke?”

She smiled, shaking her head, “I’ll tell you later. I can’t laugh and whisper at the same time.”

When class was nearing its end, Eggsy took a deep breath, “Now, I know I just used a lot of words ta explain a really simple concept. And I know I don’ normally do that,” he laughed, “But I just really wan’ you guys to understand ‘ow he went about this. Because this kinda writing can’t be forced. And I know I prob’ly don’t give off a very strong ‘poet’ vibe, but I could talk about this shit fer hours,” he smiled, “But the assignments that I give for this unit of class are going to be a little more up ta you. And the deadlines are gonna be a little less strict. But, if any’a you start abusin’ that, well, just don’t, yea?” he smiled, “I ‘ave faith in you,” he glanced down at his watch, “Aight, you’re free. G’won, do fun things with the rest’a your day. I’ll see you lot on Wednesday.”

Everyone packed up their things and filed out of the lecture hall, saying goodbye and such as they walked by the table where Eggsy was sitting. He was so caught up in that and answering the questions that his students had that he didn’t even notice the fact that Harry was in the room. He wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for Lily.

“Have a good day, Dr. Hart,” she said with a smile and a giggle as she walked past him out the door.

Eggsy spun around at the sound of someone addressing Harry. His face brightened, “Ay, ‘Arry.”

“How are you today, Gary?”

He nodded, “Good, good. Yerself?”

“Just fine. Was running late this morning, though. I slept through my alarm and didn’t even have time to stop by my office before heading to my first lecture.”

That explained why he seemed so calm, or just, normal perhaps. Eggsy packed his books into his bag, “Sorry about that, bruv.”

“No need to apologize,” he glanced over at the board, “I don’t remember this being in the lesson plans you submitted to the department,” he gave a cheeky smile.

Eggsy laughed, “That’s ‘cos it wasn’t there. I changed my mind about a few things. Fig’red I’d give ‘em something that’s a different kind of challenging.”

“Prose poetry?”

He nodded, “I think it’ll be good for ‘em. Plus poets are a bit more interestin’ to talk about in class. I think that might end up bein’ an assignment at some point.”

“Making this up as you go along?”

“I always do, bruv,” he chuckled.

Harry smiled, “As head of the department, you probably shouldn’t tell me things like that.”

He smirked, “An’ the you that’s _not_ head of the department?”

“There’s not much that you can’t tell me,” there was a few beats of silence and the tension in the air could’ve been but with a knife. Harry took a breath but he never let his eyes stray from the young man in front of him, “Do you want to get coffee?”

Immediately his expression changed, his devious smirk formed into his signature bright smile, “I wish I could, ‘Arry. But I’ve got some papers an’ things ta take care of. Been procrastinatin’ a bit.”

“Ah, happens to the best of us,” the two of them walked towards the door in comfortable silence.

“I had a good time,” Eggsy blurted out just before he put his hand on the doorknob, “The other night, I mean. I had a good time with you.”

Harry smiled, “I had a good time with you too, Gary.”

He smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped himself. Harry raised his eyebrows, “Something you want to ask?”

He shook his head, “No, no s’alright.”

“You can ask me anything, you know.”

He took his hand off the doorknob and rested it on the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor, seemingly deep in thought, “I jus…”

He paused and looked up at Harry, biting his bottom lip for a moment before pulling the man into a kiss by his tie. Eggsy kept one hand clasped around the tie while the other rested on the back of Harry’s neck, keeping the man as close to him as he could get.

He pulled back, letting go of Harry’s tie. He felt a little out of breath but he never wanted to feel any other way again after that.

There was a smirk on Harry’s face, “Is that all, then?” his expression didn’t fade as he adjusted his tie.

The two of them stepped out of the room, and Harry reached behind Eggsy to pull the door shut. While he did that, Eggsy placed a quick kiss on the man’s cheek and headed off on his way, “I’ll see you soon, ‘Arry,” he turned and winked before disappearing down the hall.

Harry sighed and shook his head, although he couldn’t help but to smile. Eggsy was going to be the death of him and he knew it. Harry had no idea how he was going to try and keep this all under control while they were at school. If their last interaction was any indicator, the prospect of keeping it on the down-low wasn’t promising. Perhaps that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Harry made his way to the English Department building wrapped up in thoughts of things that might happen in the future, even though he knew he didn’t even have a decent grasp on what was going on with the two of them now.

He walked down to his office, pulling his key out of his jacket pocket as he went. He looked up at the door and smiled at the envelope sticking out of the top of his mailbox. He walked into his office and set his things down before going back out and grabbing the envelope. After taking a seat at his desk, he took a deep breath and looked at the envelope in front of him.

A smile crept across his face as he read the outside, written in Eggsy’s flawless handwriting, _“Harry Hart,”_ and underneath that, _“Consider this a very long post-script.”_

He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t intrigued. He and Eggsy hadn’t spoken much once Harry left the doorway of Eggsy’s flat. He wasn’t surprised at that per se. But even so, a note was reassuring.

_“Harry,_

_Saturday was perfect. I had an amazing time with you, and I would’ve said that but I was a bit distracted and more than a little speechless. Which is more than fine by me, but I just didn’t want you to take my silence as me being uncomfortable. To be completely honest it was the total opposite. I was expecting to make a much bigger fool out of myself than I did. Surprising, I know. But maybe after being bombarded with my family as you walk through the door, it’s all upwards from there, yea?_

_I like you, Harry. (In case you were still wondering.) And really, all I’m hoping, is that I’ll get the chance to spend more time with you. I’d say we had a pretty great first date, and I’m just hoping we get to have a second one._

_Next time, my treat._

_Yours,  
Gary”_

Harry took a deep breath and read it a few times over. He sat there with a smile on his face, after all, how could he not smile at that? He could hear Eggsy’s voice say each written word, and that made it all the more endearing. He folded it back up, tucked it in its envelope, and stowed it away in his briefcase. It was something to return back to later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because not all letters have to be sappy. And besides, Eggsy's not a total sap......not yet anyway. ;)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM THE ACTUAL WORST I'M SO SORRY THAT I HAVE NEGLECTED THIS FIC FOR SO LONG. I can't believe how long it's been since I've last updated and I'm soooo sorry. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. For anyone out there who is still following me or this fic, I send a million apologies and thank you's. I love you all.
> 
> So as an attempt at an apology, here is a bit of a longer chapter. Love you. xox

Eggsy was packing up his office at the end of the day when he heard the door open. He spun around, hoping it’d be Harry, but was instead greeted by Roxy’s whirl of a lab coat and blonde hair bounding into the room. She seemed as chipper as ever.

“Alright. I was good,” she sat down, “I didn’t bug you _all weekend_ , or even yesterday. Please, for the love of God, Gary, give me some details!”

“I don’ know what you’re on about, Rox,” he smirked.

“How’d your bloody date go?! You’re still employed, so it had to have at least gone decently,” there was an uncontainable laughter to her voice.

He chuckled and nodded, “It went great, Rox. I don’ think I’ll be getting fired anytime soon over it,” he paused, “There ain’t rules against that, right?”

She shrugged, “Not that I know of. We’re all considered to be adults here, Gary, and I think that means they trust us to handle our own personal affairs. More than likely it’s just one of those things that’s ‘frowned upon’,” she laughed, “The rest of the department will give you two Hell when they find out, though.”

Eggsy rolled his eyes, “They give me Hell over everything anyway.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yea. I’m here and young and—”

“About to be shagging the head of the department?”

He narrowed his eyes, “They don’ give you grief about anythin’?”

She laughed, “As though someone wants to mess with _Merlin’s_ assistant,” she shook her head, “But we’re getting off-track. Date. You and Harry. Details.”

Eggsy couldn’t help but to smile. He relaxed back in his chair, “It was…it was great, Roxy.” He started rambling on about everything that happened. About halfway through he realized this was the first time he had talked to anyone about it in-depth. Everything came spewing out and he realized that he probably sounded like he was in high school, Hell, he even _felt_ a bit like he was in high school, but he didn’t care.

Roxy was loving it. She didn’t know Harry at all, really, and she hardly knew Eggsy when it came right down to it. But she knew genuine excitement when she saw it. And regardless of who it was coming from, Roxy reveled in it. She hadn’t gotten the vibe that Eggsy was one to get overly excited about a lot of things, which made this little outburst all the more enjoyable. She lounged in her seat with a smile, letting him tell her everything without interruption.

“But yea,” he finally paused and took a breath, “It was good.”

She laughed, “Apparently so. So are you two going out again?”

He shrugged, “I mean, I hope so. I’d really like that. He and I haven’t had too much of a chance to talk.”

“I’ll pick Merlin’s brain to see if he knows anything.”

“Roxy, please don’t. That’s really not—”

“Not for you,” she laughed, “ _I_ want to know,” she stood up, “You wanna grab a bite?”

He laughed, he at least appreciated her honesty, “Yea sure, why not? You can tell me about your life fer a change,” he smiled as he threw a last few things in his bag and grabbed his coat.

“Not a chance,” she walked out into the hall with a dramatic flourish of her coat.

It was nice to make a trip off-campus and not have to give themselves a countdown for when they had to be back. Plus, it wasn’t often that either of them “went out” to eat anywhere that wasn’t on the university campus.

“Alright, so,” Eggsy sat down across from her, “gimme some details of yer own.”

She laughed, shaking her head, “I told you, not a chance.”

“You know all this shit about my life, and I got next to nothin’ about yours.”

“What makes you think I lead some sort of interesting life, Gary? I hardly think I’ve been here long enough to have any fun _details_ to give you.”

“C’mon. I know we see each other and shoot shit, but I don’ really know you.”

She smiled as she skimmed over the menu, “I wish I could say that there was something notable about me and my life, but there really isn’t. If I’m not at the university I’m at home, and if by some miracle I have time for something else, I’m at the gym.”

“Ah,” he grinned, “Gonna be a super-buff scientist, yea?”

“Something like that.”

Eggsy asked her about her family, if they had come to visit her since she moved, and he could tell by the way that she was answering that there was more to the story than what she was telling him. He knew because it was the same way that he would answer questions about his own family.

“I did facetime with my brother and sister last night though,” she scrolled through the pictures on her phone, “I think you and my brother would get alone quite well, actually,” she showed him a photo of all three of them together.

“You’re the middle child then, yea?”

She nodded, “Yep. Got the crazy protective older brother, and the blissfully innocent younger sister.”

“How much younger?”

“Let’s see…I’m twenty-three and she is about to be ten so…”

“Ah,” he smiled, “so she gets to have _two_ insanely protective older siblings then, yea?”

Roxy laughed and shook her head, but she couldn’t really argue. She had silently vowed to herself to not be the same sort of protective that her father and brother were. But there was an immense comfort in knowing that if push ever came to shove, she could take care of any problems her sister ever came across.

“You know all about being the protective older sibling though, I’m sure,” she smiled, “What did your sister make of Harry, anyway?”

Eggsy shrugged, but there was a smile on his face, “She hasn’t said much about him either way, but I take it as a good thing. You know how lil kids are…if they don’t like somethin’ you’ll definitely fuckin’ know.”

*

The week went on, and there never seemed to be a chance for Eggsy and Harry actually take a moment to talk to each other. They’d occasionally cross paths walking to the coffee shop, or the parking lot, but it was always fleeting because one of them, if not both of them, were in a rush to be off to the next thing.

Harry was being slammed with requests and scheduling for the entire department. Not only what each professor would have for their course load, but _where_ they would be teaching. The English department had a pretty firm stake on certain lecture halls and classrooms, but the campus was going under renovation and now every department was trying to figure out how to not step on each other’s toes. And everyone knew that it wasn’t a speedy process for the construction to be completed, so it would be a couple semesters like this at the least. Harry wasn’t happy about all the confusion. No one was.

Eggsy was busy trying to get things in place for the final projects for his class. He hated exams with a passion, especially when it came to subjects like writing and literature in general. There was no multiple choice exam that would truly prove how much any of his students learned. There was still time before he had to worry about assigning the thing, but he hated feeling unprepared. And that’s exactly where he was at. And as though that wasn’t enough, his mother had called him and asked to meet up with him that night for dinner. He wanted to be happy about that, but he couldn’t help but to be more apprehensive than anything.

He was walking out to his car at the end of the day and walking as fast as he could without breaking into a run. If he timed it right he would be able to stop by his flat and jump into a more comfortable set of clothes before meeting with his mom for dinner. He heard the sound of dress shoes clicking against the sidewalk behind him, but didn’t bother to turn around seeing as how that seemed like the best way to get roped into a conversation that he didn’t want to be in.

“Gary,” Harry called, not wanting to pick up his pace too much if he didn’t have to. After all, not everyone around here had a strict fitness regimen.

He whipped around, smiling, “Harry, sorry, bruv. Didn’t realize it was you.”

“That’s quite alright,” he chuckled, “I often do the same thing,” they fell into stride with each other, “I was wondering if you had time to stop and grab a drink or a bite? I feel bad that I haven’t had any time to spend with you since our date.”

Eggsy’s smile grew but faded away quickly as his previous obligations came crashing to the forefront of his mind, “I wish I could, ‘Arry. But I’ve actually got dinner plans with my mum t’night. I’m so sorry.”

He laughed, shaking his head, “No need to apologize,” they stopped at the end of the sidewalk, both their cars on different ends of the lot for once, “I hope you have a good time,” he leaned forward and kissed Eggsy on the cheek, “Goodnight, Gary.”

His cheeks turned pink, “G’night.”

He should’ve known better than to be too worried about being right on time when it came to plans with his mother. It wasn’t her fault—trying to make any kind of time table while also taking care of a young child was quite the undertaking. Eggsy certainly wouldn’t want to have to do it on a constant basis. He managed to get to the restaurant before them so the waitress seated him right away, lingering for a few moments longer than necessary after he sat down and grinning as she walked away, assuring him that she’d be back soon. Suddenly he was washing that Lily was waiting on him again.

A few minutes later he heard the rapid thudding of little feet on the floor of the restaurant. He spun in his chair, beaming as Daisy ran up and tackled him in a hug, glad that he was finally more her height now that he was sitting down. He kissed the top of her head and greeted her before standing up and giving his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m glad that you invited me,” he said to Michelle as she got Daisy situated and her chair pushed in, “Feel like I ‘aven’t gotten to see both’a you in a while.”

“Not since we crashed your date,” she laughed.

Eggsy could tell that she was still embarrassed about the whole situation. In all honesty he was past the awkwardness that it had temporarily caused. After all, if Harry wanted to be a part of his life he’d better get used to the chaos. He smiled at his mother, “Mum, you really don’t havta look at me like that. Honestly, it’s alright. You didn’t scare him off or anything,” he chuckled, “I’ve still got to manage that one on my own.”

“So…did the date go well?” she had the most motherly and inquisitive look on her face.

Eggsy sighed, smiling as he nodded, “Yes, it went well.”

“So, who is this man? How’d you two meet?”

“’E’s at Eggsy’s school!” Daisy piped in.

He took a deep breath. Kids, they say the darndest things. He really didn’t want to tell his mom that he was essentially dating his boss. Not that she had any room to criticize, but still. It was the stigma around the whole thing. He didn’t want his mom thinking that he was trying to sleep his way into anything.

“Oh, another professor?” she smiled as she looked over the menu, “That’s so cute, babe!”

Eggsy smiled, nodding, “Yea. He’s actually, um,” he buried his face in the beer list, “he’s the head’a the English Department.”

She looked up at him, eyebrows raised, “Oh? Well,” she giggled a bit, “it _is_ always good to have friends in high places.”

Eggsy had to laugh, “Yea, that’s one way of looking at it I guess.”

That was the last that they spoke about it during dinner. The rest of the night was just catching up a bit. Daisy talked about school, telling Michelle all about how Eggsy had met Mrs. K, and that all of her friends were jealous because she had a super cool brother. Michelle asked Eggsy how work was going, outside of dating his boss. For a few hours they seemed like a normal, functional family. Eggsy was reveling in it, and he had to assume that his mother was too. They didn’t want to go back to what their lives actually were when this was all so nice.

They were walking out to the parking lot, Daisy bravely leading the way, when Eggsy finally braved to ask how things had been at home. His mom _looked_ alright, and Daisy luckily never had any marks on her whenever Eggsy saw her. But he just needed to be _sure_.

“He’s been a bit better, babe, I promise,” her voice was soft, “Said he’s gonna be gone the next couple nights, so I figured it was a good time to try and catch up with you a little bit. Hope I didn’t ruin any plans, or any other dates,” she nudged his shoulder with a smile.

Eggsy laughed, shaking his head, “No, none of that.”

“Will you be seeing him again?”

He nodded, not able to contain the grin on his face, “Yea. Things with work have just been crazy, though. Neither of us ‘ave had time for ourselves let alone each other,” he shook his head, “But we’ll go out again soon.”

They were all standing in front of Michelle’s car, and she gently cupped Eggsy’s face in her fragile hands, “He treating you right, Eggsy?”

A soft smile spread across his face and he nodded, “He’s a really…good guy, Mum. I promise.” It seemed to fall short, but between he and his mother he knew that that was the most important and reassuring thing that he could’ve told her.

*

Eggsy stumbled up to his office that Friday, absolutely exhausted from the whole week of running around, trying to pull a project together, and just life in general. He fumbled through all of his pockets before finally finding his key. As he turned the lock and pushed the door open, he heard a set of footsteps behind him. He didn’t pay any mind to it until the person stopped and started to speak.

“Professor Unwin.”

Eggsy’s whole body tensed up out of reflex. He took a deep breath, “Dr. King,” he didn’t bother to turn around as he walked into his office, “Happy Friday, bruv. What c’n I do for ya?”

He didn’t step past the threshold of Eggsy’s office, “I was just curious as to the classes you were planning on picking up next semester. Dr. Hart seemed like he wanted to test you in different waters.”

“Yea,” he set his bags down and finally looked back at his colleague, gesturing for him to come in out of politeness, “He offered me two courses. They each only got one section, though. ‘E’s easin’ me into it. Why?”

“He’s doing some _rearranging_ as he likes to put it. And he’s taking from my courseload.”

Eggsy stopped fiddling with the papers on his desk and looked up at the man in front of him. He wore his skepticism clearly on his face. He knew exactly where this conversation was going but he still wanted to hear Dr. King say it all out loud.

“Oh, I see,” he shrugged, “Well I ain’t got final details yet. But I told ‘im I’d be more than happy ta take on an extra class or two.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

He wanted to show Dr. King just how passive-aggressive he could be when the situation called for it, but at that moment he just simply didn’t have the time. He shrugged and laughed, “A little extra cash and the chance to teach more students. Don’ see how I can lose on this, bruv.”

“I would just be careful where you try to pick up slack, because there’s not much to be had. I’d hate to see you get overwhelmed when all the dust settles.”

Eggsy gave his most charming smile, “I appreciate yer concern, Doctor. An’ as much as I love this conversation, I gotta get to my lecture. Got students waiting on me, yea?” he stood up and grabbed a couple books off of his desk, “If you got any more questions, feel free ta come back durin’ my office hours.”

He walked to the door and held it open for Dr. King, who was still sitting, staring at Eggsy in relative disbelief. He wasn’t used to being dismissed like that. He finally gathered himself enough to get out of his chair, blowing past Eggsy without a word. Once the man walked away, Eggsy let out a sigh of relief. He was always nervous when the other professors confronted him, let alone someone with a vendetta against him like Dr. King. If he was honest with himself, that was enough human interaction to last him a day or two.

He got to the lecture hall with a few minutes to spare. He quickly unpacked, setting his books on the podium. As he was shuffling papers around, he noticed an envelope set neatly on top of the few papers left from the last professor who had been there. He paused, looking at it for a moment as he let the handwriting register. He picked it up and quickly tucked it away in the inside pocket of his sport coat.

“Sorry I’m a bit rushed,” he opened his book to a marked page, “Got stuck talking to a colleague,” there were a few beats of silence as he collected himself, “Alright, so, we all did our readings for today, yea?”

When class ended and Eggsy dismissed his students, he hung around the front of the room as usual. Students had more questions than they normally did since this style of writing wasn’t at all what they thought they were getting themselves into. Eggsy was more than happy to help them through the process. He felt like it was good for them to get pushed out of their comfort zones a little bit.

Once everyone else had left, Lily strolled up to the front table. There was a mischievous smirk on her face as she waited for her professor to acknowledge her. He had a fairly decent idea as to what their conversation was going to be about.

“Yes, Lily, how may I help you?”

“So, got a bit held up today, yea?” she giggled.

“You gonna use yer powers for good?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she laughed, “I just know that you’re never even _close_ to being late. Must’ve been important.”

He rolled his eyes, “It’s not what you think. Woulda been glad to be late if it was that,” he laughed for a moment before letting his expression grow a little more serious, “Just had some issues with another professor is all.”

“You’re not outta the job or anything, right?”

He laughed, shaking his head, “Jus’ the opposite, actually. S’all good, Lily. No worries.”

“So on a scale of one to ten, Prof, how inappropriate is it if I ask you about you and your boyfriend?”

“Very.”

She laughed, “Oh come _on_ , we’re all adults here.”

“I’m also your professor.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll be nosey from afar.”

“That’s all I wan’ from you, yea?” he couldn’t help but to smile a little bit.

Eggsy shut the door behind him as he walked into his office. He tossed his bag onto the floor next to him, blindly fishing around for the envelope for a minute or so before remembering that he had it on his person. He shook his head at himself—the weekend couldn’t get here soon enough.

He adored Harry’s handwriting. It wasn’t like his own, it was a bit scratchier but it still flowed. Eggsy could read about quantum physics if Harry wrote it down by hand. It was a bit ridiculous, he knew, to be enamored over something like that. But what did ridiculous even _really_ mean, anyway?

The tips of his fingers smoothed out the edges of the sheet of paper, too nervous to really delve into whatever it was that he was about to be reading. Finally, he took a deep breath and let his eyes really focus on the words in front of him.

_“Gary,  
I’m glad that it seems like you enjoyed yourself as much as I did. And in the spirit of candor there’s nothing that I would enjoy more than spending another evening with you, even if it involved “being bombarded”, as you put it, by your family again.  
(Although I’d love to get a chance to see you flustered all over again. It suits you.)  
I don’t if it’s too soon to really be telling you that I’ve missed you, even though I’ve seen you briefly around campus. But regardless, I have missed you and I wish I could’ve spoken to you more this past week. I’m sorry that we haven’t had much time to spend together, and I hope you know it’s not me trying to avoid you or anything of the sort. Work’s been an absolute drag but freeing up time for you has been serving as quite the motivation. I know that for as stressful as things have been for me, they’ve been just as much so for you. And if there’s anything that I can do to help alleviate it please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’d be happy to help in any way that I can.  
And perhaps, if you’ve got some spare time this weekend, I would be able to see you?  
Yours,  
Harry Hart”_

Eggsy was beaming down at the letter in his hands. There was something extremely gratifying about the fact that Harry really _missed_ him. Eggsy hadn’t really ever had that before, except with Daisy but that was different. Plus the thought of Harry Hart, the posh, put-together head of the English Department, working furiously away on paperwork to free up time _just because_ he missed Eggsy? Well who would want to give up that mental image?

Before he could think more about it, Eggsy grabbed his cell and called Harry. Snail mail was great and sentimental and all, but this was more of an instant gratification sort of conversation that he wanted to have.

“Hello?” Harry answered, a slightly puzzled tone.

“Ay, ‘Arry,” Eggsy leaned back in his chair, eyes glued to the letter.

“Gary,” his voice immediately brightened, “What a nice surprise. How are you?”

“I’m good,” he paused, “I got yer letter.”

“Oh?” Harry was thankful they weren’t having the conversation in person so Eggsy couldn’t see how red his face was turning.

“Yea. Pretty generous offer you made, y’know.”

His brows furrowed, “What offer was that?”

“ _Stress relief_? Some dangerous waters, bruv,” his tone was saying everything that his words weren’t, “Especially since we’ve only been on one date.”

He sucked in a quick breath, “Oh. Um, Gary, I didn’t mean to imply…I hope I didn’t make you…”

He laughed, “I’m just joking, ‘Arry. Well, sort of. But, what all’a this was leading to was me asking if you wanted to go and see a movie this weekend? Tomorrow night maybe? Get out for a bit?”

He let out a sigh of relief, “That sounds lovely. You pick the movie and I’ll pick you up?”

“What? Don’t trust me to drive?”

“I’ve seen you peel out of the parking lot at the university, Gary.”

He laughed, “Aight, that’s not a fair judgment. But fine, if you feel better drivin’ I guess I’ll let you.”

“Perfect,” his smile was audible, “Let me know when and I’ll be there.”

“Aight. See you soon, Harry.”

“See you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, so sorry. And so many thanks. xoxoxoxoxoxo


	15. Chapter 15

“This was a terrible idea,” Eggsy mumbled to himself as he laid in bed the next morning. What kind of movie would Harry want to see? Since it was just a movie did Eggsy still have to dress up? Was Harry planning on doing anything before or after? It was one of the rare moments when Eggsy thought that perhaps he should start thinking things through a bit before acting solely on impulse.

He got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror for a few moments. He ran his fingers over his chin and jawline, feeling the start of what would be a sad excuse for a beard if he let it grow. Sometimes it bothered him, but as his mother had reminded him on more than one occasion he, _“has too precious of a face to bother with a beard,”_ which was her nice, motherly way of saying that he had a baby face and would probably look a bit odd with hair on it.

Once he’d showered, shaved, and thrown a hoodie and sweatpants on, he took a deep breath before picking up his phone. He held it to his ear, growing more and more anxious with each ring. Once he was certain that he was about to hear a voicemail message play, there was a click and an excited voice on the other end of the line.

“Gary, didn’t think I’d be hearing from you today,” Roxy sounded as chipper as ever, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need some advice?”

She laughed, “Need some boy advice, do you?”

Eggsy groaned as he collapsed onto his couch, “Apparently I always need it.”

“What’s going on? I thought you and Harry were alright?”

“We are,” he responded quickly, “We are alright. I just, I invited him to the movies.”

She waited for a moment, expecting the hammer to drop, but it never did, “…then it sounds like you’ve got things under control? I’m not sure how to help.”

“I don’t know what _movies_ he likes!”

She tried to rein in her amusement but a giggle of sorts made its way out, “You’re both a couple of nerds, I’m sure you could come up with something.”

“Rox, I’m having a crisis here.”

“Oh stop. You’re over-thinking this. Honestly, just see what movies are playing, and pick one. He’ll just be glad that you want to go out with him again. And besides, if it turns out to be a shit film, you’ve got a whole dark theater to—”

“Alright, I get it, I get it,” he sighed, “Remind me to ask someone else for advice next time I’m in a spot.”

“Yea? Gonna call up Merlin or Dr. King, are you?” she laughed, “I thought so. Besides, _you’re_ the one who called a lesbian for advice on _men_.”

He had to smile at that, but he took a breath and returned to his point, “He’s not just men, Rox. He’s Harry. But tha’s a talk for another time. If I read you off some movie titles, will you help me pick one?”

She was trying not to laugh, because she did feel bad that he was so anxious about the whole movie-choosing process. But looking at it from the outside, it was so obvious that he and Harry both kissed the ground the other walked on, so there wasn’t a way for Eggsy to actually trash his relationship with Harry, especially not over a movie. She took a long, silent breath, “Alright. I can’t guarantee anything though.”

Eggsy read off all of the titles. Truth be told he had seen a couple of them because he streamed them at home. But he’d see anything twice if it meant he was going to see it with Harry. Eggsy liked pretty much anything when it came to movies, which was why he was hoping that perhaps Harry would give him something to go off of, but of course not. Because that would be too simple.

“Hmm,” Roxy thought for a few moments, “I mean I don’t know Harry very well, but he seems like a _La La Land_ type of guy. But, you also can’t go wrong with a good action movie, right? That one with Jamie Foxx looked really good. I was actually hoping to get out and see that soon. But, you know Gary,” she chuckled, “you could just ask _him_ what he’d want to see.”

“Well that’s just too damn simple,” he laughed for a moment before letting out a sigh, “I probably should do that though, huh?”

“That would be my piece of advice. Dates can be a community effort, you know. I realize that you take this a bit more seriously because of the situation, but I’m sure he’d have no problem giving some input.”

“I know, you’re right,” he ran his hand through his hair, “Sorry for buggin’ you, Roxy.”

“Don’t apologize. This is what I live for!” she laughed, “But one of these days when I have dates of my own, you’re going to be on deck for these types of phone-calls, you know that right?”

“I’d be disappointed if I wasn’t. My boundless knowledge of women is going to waste at the moment.”

It took her a good few seconds to gain control over her laughter, “Can’t have that, can we?” she took a breath, and Eggsy could picture her shaking her head at him, “Alright, well, get back to your date-planning. I’ll be sure to bug you on Monday about it.”

“Thanks,” he had to laugh, “I’ll see ya.”

“Talk later, Gary.”

Eggsy hung up the phone and went about the business of tidying up his apartment, which was still littered with countless papers and portfolios despite there being no good excuse for it anymore. He figured it should look at least presentable when Harry got there. He stacked all of the papers by course and class, leaving them on the small desk that he originally thought would be more than large enough for his grading needs. If he was picking up more courses the following semester he should put some serious thought into trading this desk in for a larger one. That was a problem to be solved later.

He wiped down the table in his small living room, put away all the dishes that he’d cleaned, and he had to admit that there was less to this cleaning business than he always thought there was. He was just, well, lazy. His room was still a bit of a mess, but that didn’t really matter. It was always a bit of a wreck, and it’s not like that was a part of the flat that Harry was actually going to see anyway. Maybe in Eggsy’s _dreams_ , but probably not on their second date. Which was fine with him—he figured maybe he should get so he could talk to the man without having to fight the urge to stutter, and then he could go from there. It was just a bunch of baby steps, really.

He walked into his room, staring intently at his phone, debating whether or not to call Harry and ask for some input or not. Before he could talk himself into something else ridiculous, he hit the dial button, throwing the phone on speaker as he dug through his dresser drawers for a nice pair of jeans.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Harry.”

“Ah, Gary, how are you?”

“I’m good. I just, I’m awful at choosing movies,” he laughed, “I figured maybe you could pop over and help me choose? There’re a lot out that sound pre’ty good. Then if it’s a later one we can grab something to eat before maybe? And if it’s not we could always go somewhere after if you wanna.”

Harry smiled to himself, “That sounds fine to me. Any time in particular you want me to come over?”

Eggsy shook his head, taking a moment to realize that Harry couldn’t see him, “Oh, um, anytime is fine honestly. I’m free all day,” he laughed.

He chuckled, “Alright. Well I’ll head over soon then. Just have to make myself presentable.”

“I’m sure you look great as always,” it was a bit of a reflexive response.

“You’re too kind,” Harry laughed, “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you in a bit,” he hung up the phone, groaning as soon as he saw the call screen fade away.

It wasn’t anything fancy. It was just a movie and probably dinner somewhere. He kept telling himself these things but it didn’t stop himself from tearing his closet apart. His room quickly went from “a little messy” to, “Where is the floor?” He had a million polos that would look just fine with jeans and a pair of sneakers. This would be a date where his winged shoes would be acceptable, right? He felt so alien when he wore dress shoes. He hardly ever wore them to work. Even on days when he left his wings at home, he still wore a pair of kicks because, well, it was pretty much all he owned.

He settled on a gray and white polo with a black collar, and a black stripe cutting diagonally across it, along with a snapback and his favorite pair of black and white winged kicks. It was the kind of “dressy” that he was used to. More about looking smooth and like you’ve got your shit together a bit rather than trying to be fancy or anything. It was more his speed. He just hoped that Harry wouldn’t mind.

In what seemed like no time, Eggsy was opening the door for Harry and he had to take a moment to reconcile the fact that the man in front of him was the same man who was always just short of wearing a three-piece suit to campus every day. Eggsy was trying, and failing, to carry on a conversation as he looked Harry over. Even when the man was dressed casually he was still gorgeous and Eggsy just didn’t quite think it was fair. He was in a dark blue button-down shirt, but he had left the top few buttons undone and Eggsy hadn’t mentally prepared himself for that. He also had on a nice pair of jeans and his hair was combed but not styled in the high-brow way it always was when they were at the university. Eggsy could see that Harry’s hair must have had some kind of natural wave or curl to it—it was pretty endearing if he was honest with himself.

“Is everything alright?” Harry smiled.

He swallowed hard, “Yea. I just,” he tried to laugh it off, “Not used to seeing you without the tie.”

“I can go home and get one if you’d like?” he fought to contain his laughter.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he smirked as he closed the door, “If it was that big of a deal I’d lend you one’a mine. It’d be faster that way.”

The two of them walked over to the living area of Eggsy’s flat. Harry was telling Eggsy how he was glad classes hadn’t gotten the better of him, all the while he was looking around the young man’s apartment. It was then that Eggsy realized Harry hadn’t really seen his place. Since their first date was a bit of a cluster at first and Harry was a little more preoccupied with Daisy and Eggsy’s mother, he didn’t really get to properly scope anything out. Eggsy was thankful for that, since it was in disarray from Daisy being there, and his friends as well. He tried not to feel self-conscious and Harry soaked in everything about the place.

“You want anything to drink, bruv?” Eggsy stood up off the couch. He felt too fidgety to just simply sit still.

“Water would be great, actually.”

He smiled, “You got it.”

When he turned and walked off, Harry focused his attention on a bookcase that was next to the television. It was filled, packed, with DVD’s. He knew that Eggsy was a film lover just like he was a book lover, but it was still intriguing to see the case so filled to the brim with all different kinds of movies. He strained to try and read the titles, eventually letting his curiosity get the better of him as he stood and walked closer.

Eggsy turned around with both of their glasses and saw Harry crouched by shelves of movies and couldn’t help but to smile. He set the cups on the small table and stood there, observing for a moment.

“The left side is Daisy’s,” he finally said.

Harry chuckled, “No need to try and explain yourself. I like _Mulan_ as much as the next person.”

Eggsy pointed a finger at him, “Ay, c’mon now, that was a great fuckin’ movie.”

All he could do was laugh and nod, “I never said it wasn’t,” he looked at the right side of the cabinet, “Why is _Treasure Planet_ on your side of the cabinet?”

“’Cos it’s my movie,” he beamed proudly.

He smiled as he took the movie off the shelf, looking at the case. He skimmed the synopsis on the back, and his smile only grew. It was endearing that Eggsy was still attached to films like that.

“You’ve seen it, right?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

“What? You’ve never seen it?”

He chuckled, “I think you and I just had different tastes in films growing up, Gary.”

He laughed, “ _’Growing up’_. Please. Last time I watched that was like, two months ago,” he shook his head, “Alright. That settles it. We don’t gotta look at what’s playing ‘cos we’re gonna stay in and watch this,” he stood up and swiped it out of Harry’s hand, “Can’t believe you’ve never seen this.

“I didn’t mean to disappoint you so,” there was a small grin on his face.

“At least it’s a problem we can address together,” he laughed. He took a breath, looking over at Harry, “You alright with staying in?”

He nodded, “Sounds lovely.”

“What do you wanna do for food? We can go grab something, or I can cook.”

“ _Can_ you cook?”

He held his hand against his heart, pretending to be deeply offended, “I can’t believe you’d ask somethin’ like that. Of course I can cook,” he looked away indignantly, “Dais’ says I’m the best cook ever.”

“Well, who am I to question that, then?” Harry couldn’t shake the smile on his face. The prospect of a night in with Eggsy was extremely appealing, especially after how crazy the week had been. If he was honest, he almost preferred it to going out—staying in just seemed much more comfortable and personal.

There was a moment when the air changed and Eggsy was very aware of the fact that he was going to be entertaining Harry in his own home. And that he most definitely did this to himself. He could be a decent enough host though, or at least, he hoped so. There was no going back on it now. His life seemed to be dictated by Murphy’s Law, but he hoped that just for once, the universe could be on his side with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As for the movie refs:  
> -I have yet to see _La La Land_ but idk it's up for a million awards and I feel like at first Harry seems like the kind of person who's into that sorta thing?  
>  -The Jamie Foxx movie I was talking about was _Sleepless_ and I saw that and it was super duper good! A lot of action and set up perfectly for a sequel and yes.  
>  - _Treasure Planet_ was my shit growing up and so if I was going to make a child's film important it was going to be that one. If you've never seen it you should totally find a way to watch it. ^.^
> 
> Hope you enjoyed these awkward little beans. xox

**Author's Note:**

> This is all pretty much off the cuff so suggestions and feedback are accepted and appreciated!


End file.
